Journey to the Island of Halastia
by Tortured Artist
Summary: Part of The Mystery of Snoozer quadrilogy. Neteru and Mara thought that their troubles were over until Laura and her friends were once again changed into hamsters, and a new threat has come over the city. They must travel to a far away island.
1. A Day of Reuniting

Journey to the Island of Halastia

Chapter 1: A Day of Reuniting

_Author's Note: This is a sequel to the fanfics "Walk a Mile in Your Shoes" and "The Mystery of Snoozer." This story would be easier to understand if you have read both stories first._

It was a lovely Monday morning. The kind you would often see near the end of summer with the beautiful blue sky, bright warm sun shine, and trees swaying and dancing in the breeze. A wonderful day to be outside and enjoy the fresh air. This beautiful day has caught the attention of two ham-hams: Neteru and his girlfriend Mara. Neteru is a tall brown and white hamster with squinted eyes and Mara has fur that is completely mustard yellow. Both Neteru and Mara are sorcerers who have been separated long ago but had been reunited thanks to Hamtaro and the Ham-Hams. It was a bizarre story on how they were separated. Mara had spent her life as a slave to an evil spirit while Neteru was put under a sleeping spell that kept him asleep for a long time. Infact, to the Ham-Hams, he was known as Snoozer until he finally awoken. Now the two are back together again and their relationship is now stronger and closer than ever before.

"Isn't it a beautiful day?" asked Mara.

"It certainly is." said Neteru. Both Neteru and Mara were lying beside each other on the large blades of grass (large to a hamster's point of view) and staring up at the clouds as they rolled by. Neteru and Mara held each others paws affectionally, enjoying the view and each other's company. As they laid there, they heard the sound of a ham-ham running towards them, repeating "Ticky-Ticky" as he ran towards them. It was Cappy they had heard and he stopped right in front of Neteru and Mara.

"Get up you guys." said Cappy frantically.

"Where's the fire, Cappy?" said Neteru sarcastically.

"There's no fire." said Cappy. "But the moving truck has finally arrived."

"Heke! It's here already?" said Neteru in surprise. Cappy nodded his head. Neteru got back onto his feet suddenly and said, "Come on, Mara, we got to introduce ourselves to our new neighbor."

"Oh, do I have to get up?" whined Mara playfully.

"Yes." said Neteru with a smile. He helped Mara back onto her feet. They picked up their magic staffs which were great magical weapons used by Neteru and Mara. Neteru's staff was wooden and it was lumpy as if the creator was having difficulties keeping the sander steady. The staff was in a cone shape and at the base of the cone was a large green diamond. Mara's staff looked like a metal golf tee with a glass icosahedron on the top of it.

"So, shall we teleport to Hamtaro's house or should we walk?" asked Mara casually.

"It's such a nice day, why don't we walk." said Neteru.

"Okay." answered Mara. The two held each others paw and walked to Hamtaro's house repeating "Chick-ah Chick-ah" as they walked.

Back at Hamtaro's house, Laura was staring into a mirror, adjusting the ribbons in her hair. Hamtaro sat in his cage, watching Laura adjust her ribbons.

"Laura, are you ready yet?" cried Forrest's voice from down stairs. "Your Aunt Birtha and uncle Chuck are waiting impatiently for you."

"Almost ready, I just have to fix my hair." cried out Laura. Laura was preparing to meet her aunt and uncle, not because they were visiting but because they were moving in across the street. Uncle Chuck got a job in the office building where Forrest works and they're moving to the neighborhood. Of-course, Chuck had to bring his wife, Birtha, and his son and Laura's cousin, Jake. Laura looked outside her window in order for her to see the moving van in front of the house across the street. On the lawn, she saw her Uncle Chuck who was a fairly tall man with brown-orange hair and a matching mustache. He wore an ugly yellow shirt and brown pants. Birtha, who stood next to Chuck, was a chubby looking women with dark brown hair and brown eyes and she wore a blue dress. Next to them was Laura's cousin, Jake who had the same brown eyes and brown hair as Laura. He was wearing a white shirt and red shorts. Upon Jake's shoulder, Laura could see what appeared to be a black rodent. Laura knew that the rodent must be Jake's hamster, Moonbeam. Laura looked down on Hamtaro and said to him, "Ready to meet Jake?"

"You bet." thought Hamtaro. Indeed, Hamtaro and the Ham-Hams have been looking forward to seeing Moonbeam again after they had heard she was moving into town. They haven't seen her since the last time Jake and Moonbeam came to visit. Laura opened up Hamtaro's cage and pulled out her furry little pet. She placed Hamtaro onto her shoulder and she carried him outside.

By the time she got outside to meet her aunt and uncle, Laura's parents was already waiting for her. Chuck saw Laura walk up to them and said, "Well, if it isn't my little niece, Laura."

"Hi, Uncle Chuck." said Laura. Chuck quickly shook Laura's hand and gave it a hard squeeze. Laura quickly let go of the handshake and rubbed her hand in pain.

"Oh Chuck, must you always be so ruff on her." scolded Birtha. "Nice to see you again, Laura. You must have grown a foot since I last saw you."

"No she hasn't." said Chuck. "She had two feet the last time you saw her and she had two feet now." Chuck laughed hysterically at his own joke.

"Wow, he has the same sense of hummer as Howdy." thought Hamtaro. Jake stepped forward, wanting to introduce himself.

"Hey Laura, long time no see." said Jake.

"Hi, Jake." said Laura. She noticed Moonbeam and said to her, "Hi Moonbeam." Laura stroked Moonbeam's head causing Moonbeam to giggle. Hamtaro noticed that Moonbeam hadn't changed much since he last saw her. She still had dark gray fur like she did last time. However, what was new about her was that she was carrying a staff. The staff appeared to be made out of stone and it was the same golf tea shape as Mara's staff and it had a round blue stone on top.

"So, have you enrolled into school yet?" asked Laura to Jake in an attempt to start conversation.

"Yes and I heard that I'm going to be with some guy named Mr. Yoshi." said Jake.

"No way, he was my teacher when I was in the fifth grade." said Laura.

"Really?" said Jake. "That's great. Will we be in the same class?"

"No." said Laura. "I'm starting middle school once summer is over."

"Middle school, huh?" said Chuck. "That means you're half way through school."

"Why don't we help you guys with the unpacking." said Forrest changing the subject.

"Great idea, bro." said Chuck. "Is that okay with you, Laura?"

"That's fine with me." said Laura. "Just let me put Hamtaro away." As Laura turned around to head for the house, Hamtaro called out to Moonbeam, "Meet me outside of your new house as soon as you can."

"Okay, see you there." replied Moonbeam.

Laura brought Hamtaro into the house and to his cage. She held Hamtaro into her cupped hands and asked him, "Are you wanting to go out and say 'hi' to Moonbeam?" Hamtaro nodded his head. Laura knows about Hamtaro's double life with the Ham-Hams so instead of placing Hamtaro back into his cage, she placed him onto the bed and said, "Have fun, Hamtaro." and then left the room.

"Thanks, Laura." called out Hamtaro even though he knew that she couldn't understand him. Once Laura had left the room, Hamtaro snuck in-between the bed and the wall and escaped through the hole in the wall like always. He scurried along the roof repeating "Ticky-Ticky" as he did and then he slid down the drain pipe and flew out of it shouting "Oopaa" as he did. He landed perfectly upon Brandy's head and said to him, "Thanks for the landing, Brandy." Brandy only yawned in response. Hamtaro leaped off of Brandy's head and then he scurried off to the house across the street, repeating "Badda-Badda" as he ran.

Upon reaching the lawn in front of Moonbeam's house, Hamtaro noticed Moonbeam herself standing at the foot of her front door.

"Hamha, Hamtaro." greeted Moonbeam.

"Hamha." said Hamtaro. "Long time no see."

"It has been awhile, hasn't it?" said Moonbeam.

"So what do you want to do first?" asked Hamtaro.

"Well, I would like to see the Ham-Hams again." said Moonbeam.

"Okay, to the Clubhouse it is." said Hamtaro.

"That wont be necessary." said a voice behind Hamtaro. Hamtaro turned around and saw the Ham-Hams come out from behind a bush, each one of them saying their "hello's" and greetings as they came out into the open.

"Hamha, Ham-Hams." greeted Moonbeam.

"Hamha, Moonbeam." said Sandy. "Welcome to our neighborhood."

"Well, I'm glad to be here." said Moonbeam. Penelope walked up to Moonbeam in greeting.

"Well hello, Penelope." said Moonbeam.

"Hel...lo." said Penelope stuttering a bit on her words.

"Did you just say 'hello?" asked Moonbeam.

"Yep." said Pashmina answering for Penelope. "Penelope is finally beginning to learn new words."

"Good for you, Penelope." said Moonbeam. "Can you say my name?"

"Moo...veem." said Penelope struggling with the name.

"Don't worry, you'll get it." said Moonbeam.

"Hey, Moonbeam." said Neteru as he and Mara came out from around a corner of a house. "Sorry we took so long."

"Hey, Neteru. Hey Mara." greeted Moonbeam. Neteru and Mara, unlike the other Ham-Hams, has visited Moonbeam frequently (using teleporation spells) to give her lessons on magic use.

"I was wondering when you'll get here." said Mara. "Now we don't have to teleport to your house every week." They all giggled at the comment.

"So Moonbeam, what do you want to do?" asked Hamtaro.

"How about I see the Ham-Ham Fun Park." said Moonbeam. "I just loved riding those rides when I was here last time."

"Hamsterrific idea." said Hamtaro. "Lets go now."

"Okay, everyone follow me to the fun park." said Boss. Boss ran off repeating "Daba-Daba" as he ran and the others followed, repeating "Badda-Badda" as they ran. Boss led the Ham-Hams to a hole in Moonbeams lawn. He leaped down the hole and like a bunch of lemmings, the Ham-Hams leaped down the hole after Boss and followed him down the tunnels, their pattering feet echoing loudly off the tunnel walls.

The tunnels Boss led the Ham-Hams through stretched far under the town towards the park where the Ham-Ham Fun Park is located. They traveled all the way through the tunnels until they finally reached a hole located just next to the Fun Park. They all leaped out of the hole one at a time. Moonbeam was the last to exit the hole and she gasped with joy upon the sight of the fun park.

"Well, which ride to you want to try first?" asked Boss.

"I think I'll ride the rollercoaster." said Moonbeam as she charged towards the rollarcoaster repeating "Badda-Badda" as she ran. Everyone spread out as they went to the ride they wanted to be on. It was a fun filled day for Moonbeam and the Ham-Hams as they road the rides and swapped stories about what had happened while they were apart. Moonbeam told her friends how advanced she has become in her magical training. Although she still has a lot to learn if she wants to reach the level of Neteru and Mara but she has certainly come a long way. She even made herself her very own staff so she could learn spells that require one. It was certainly a fun day for everyone and it was going to get better when a new visitor came to join the party.

While talking with Mara and Moonbeam, Neteru suddenly heard a soft squeaking sound in the distance.

"Do you hear that?" asked Neteru. The three of them put a paw to their ear and listened.

"It sounds like squeaky wheels." said Moonbeam.

"I say we figure out where it's coming from." said Mara.

"Good thinking." said Neteru. The three of them ran towards the direction of the sound repeating "Ticky-Ticky" as they did. The squeaking noise was growing louder as they went deeper into the small forest of trees and bushes which were as tall as buildings (from a hamster's point of view). Finally, they managed to find their way out of the miniature forest and saw where the squeaking noise was coming from. It was coming from a hamster sized cart, kind of like the cart Sabu drags around, and the cart was pushed by a single hamster sized individual. The figure didn't appear to be a ham-ham because of what appeared to be unusually thick hair on his/her back.

"What is that?" asked Mara.

"I don't know but it doesn't appear to be a ham-ham." said Neteru.

"We better wait and watch as it gets closer." said Moonbeam. The three of them waited a watched as the figure got closer into view

As the figure got closer, Neteru recognized the figure as a brown and white hedgehog.

"Wait a minute, that's Terra." said Neteru.

"Terra?" said Moonbeam. "Who's Terra."

"She's that psychic hedgehog I met back in Rokugon." said Neteru.

"What's she doing here?" asked Mara.

"I don't know but I think we should go ask her." said Neteru. The three of them ran up to Terra, surprising her with their presence.

"Neteru, what a pleasant surprise." said Terra.

"Hello, Terra." said Neteru. "These are my friends, Moonbeam and Mara."

"Hamha, Terra." said Mara.

"Hello, there." said Terra.

"So Neteru tells us that you're a psychic." said Moonbeam to Terra.

"Yes, I'm what as known as a psion, a practitioner of the psionic arts or what most people know it as the psychic arts." said Terra.

"What are you doing here?" asked Neteru.

"Business was running slow at my shop in Rokugon so I decided to sell the shop and move to some place that is less crowded than Rokugon." said Mara. "So, I came here to start a new life."

"Well, welcome to the neighborhood." said Neteru. "Why don't I show you the rest of the Ham-Hams."

"I would love too if you guys could help me push this cart." said Terra.

"Of-course." said Neteru as he and the others got on different sides of the cart and helped Terra push it through the trees towards the Ham-Ham Fun Park repeating "Grooba" as they did.

As they pushed the cart, Moonbeam asked, "Terra, how come you can speak and understand our language when only ham-hams can understand it."

"As you may know, some creatures are gifted with the ability to understand ham-hams." explained Terra. "I'm just one of those lucky few."

"So what's in this thing?" asked Mara.

"Just all my personal belongings and all the merchandise I couldn't sell." said Terra. "I don't like to throw anything away so I carry it with me. By the way, do you guys knew of a place I could live in?"

"No but we are more than happy to help you build a home." said Neteru. "Boss had build his home and Mara and I had built a home of our own as well. I'm sure we can build you something."

"I'm sure that would be lovely." said Terra. They helped Terra push the cart towards the Fun Park and the constant squeaking of the cart's wheels drew the attention of the Ham-Hams towards the cart. Over by the rollercoaster ride, Hamtaro asked Panda, "Who do you think that is?"

"I don't know but she looks like a hedgehog." said Panda. "Come on, lets go speak with her." Everyone ran up to Terra repeating "Badda-Badda" as they ran. They all gathered around Terra curiously.

"Wow, you certainly have a lot of friends here, Neteru." said Mara.

"Ham-Hams, I would like you all to meet Terra, that psionic hedgehog I told you about." said Neteru to the Ham-Hams.

"Hamha, Terra." said Hamtaro. "Welcome to our neighborhood." Everyone began to introduce themselves one by one and once everyone had finished, Neteru told them that Terra will need a place to live and he told Terra that the Ham-Hams would help her build a home.

"Of-course, we would love too." said Hamtaro.

"Can't we have a lunch break first." begged Oxnard.

"Okay, Oxy." said Hamtaro. "It is lunch time, after all."

"All zee food eez over by zee tree stump." said Bijou.

"Last one there is a gerbil." said Hamtaro. Everyone followed Bijou repeating "Badda-Badda" as they ran towards the stump.

As Bijou had promised, all the food that was available was on the stump, complete with acorns that had been gathered and some sun flower seeds.

"Dig in, everyone." said Bijou. Everyone started to gather seeds and nuts from the stump and they began krumping down on the food. However, Terra was a little less enthusiastic about the food than the others as she helped herself to a sun flower seed. She stared at the sun flower seed she held in her paws as if she wasn't sure what to do with it. Noticing her reaction, Hamtaro asked, "What's wrong, Terra? Don't you like the sun flower seeds?"

"It's not that." said Terra. "It's just that I don't often eat sun flower seeds. I only eat seeds and nuts occasionally."

"Really?" said Neteru after swallowing a sun flower seed. "What do hedgehog eat?"

"Insects mostly." said Terra. Most of the ham-hams who overheard this froze.

"You eat insects?" asked Pashmina in disgust.

"Yuck." said Penelope.

"I know it sounds weird but hedgehogs are more carnivorous than hamsters." said Terra. "My personal favorite is crickets and grasshoppers but I often enjoy eating flies, moths, spiders, and meal worms." said Terra. "I also eat eggs whenever I can get to them." Everyone cringed at the thought.

"But don't worry, I'll not eat them in front of you guys if I can." said Terra noticing their reactions. "In the mean time, could someone help me figure out how to get this shell off." Hamtaro helped Terra learn how to gnaw the shells off which was harder for Terra since her teeth are different than hamster teeth.

Once they all had lunch, they got to work helping Terra build her home. Since Neteru and Boss had built their homes underground, Terra decided to have her home built that way too. They began to dig up Terra's home repeating "Diggi-Duggi" as they did. Once the perfect underground home was dug up, Terra used her psionic powers to add her own touches, making the underground home seem more like a stone carving than the flat smooth surfaced walls found at the Clubhouse or Neteru's home. Once the house itself was built, they then helped Terra build herself some furniture. Panda did most of the work but Terra also helped out too. Apparently, she had some experience in working with wood and like what she did with the house, she put in her own ideas making, the furniture unique.

Once the furniture was built, everyone else then began to move all of Terra's belongings into the house. The sun was beginning to go down in the distance as everyone finished Terra's new home. Everyone stood inside the underground home and they all admired their work.

"It is absolutely beautiful." said Terra. "Thank you all for your help."

"You're welcome, Terra." chorused the Ham-Hams.

"You're perfectly welcome to the Clubhouse anytime you like." said Boss.

"Are you sure you wont mind?" asked Terra. "After all, I'm not a ham-ham."

"True but you're our friend and that is what matters." said Neteru.

"I'm flattered." said Terra. "By the way, it is getting late, shouldn't you all be going home by now?"

"Oops, she's right." said Hamtaro. "We better get going." Everyone said "Bye-Q" to Terra as they left her new home. They all walked up the long steps to the door repeating "Wasa-Wasa" as they did. The door leading in and out of the small home was lying horizontally instead of vertically, just like the door to Neteru and Mara's home. Because of the design, the ham-hams all had to push up on the door in order to open it. They all spread out from the door and they all went their separate ways to home repeating "Badda-Badda" as they ran.

Hamtaro made it home before Laura (as usual) and that night, Laura was once again in her pajamas and writing in her diary. She wrote in it:

_Dear Diary_

_I spent the whole day with my cousin Jake and his parents. I helped them unpack and afterwards, we went out for dinner. I also introduced Jake to his new school and I showed him around it._

Laura wanted to write more but she felt too tired and decided to put it off till morning. She turned her gaze towards Hamtaro and said to him, "I bet you and the Ham-Hams must have spent a nice fun filled day with Moonbeam." Hamtaro only grinned in response. Laura then sighed heavily.

"I wish I could talk to you, Hamtaro." said Laura. "I wish there was some way I could change into a hamster and go out on your adventures all the time."

"I wish for that too, Laura." thought Hamtaro. "I wish for that too."


	2. The Storm After the Sun Shine

Journey to the Island of Halastia

Chapter 2: The Storm After the Sun Shine

A week has past since the day Terra and Moonbeam moved into the neighborhood and already the two have become used to their new surroundings and new friends. It seemed like nothing could spoil their everyday lives until one night, while Terra was sleeping, she had a strong vision in her dream. She dreamt she was standing on top of a tree in the park and overlooking the town. In the distance, she saw a blood red fog that began to engulf the town. Terra stared opened mouthed in horror as she watched the light pass through the town like an evil blanket. The light past through Terra harmlessly but once the light had past, Terra realized that the light had turned everything else into stone. Terra stared open mouthed at the sight of the city which was now as stiff as stone. It was like being in a stone carving of a city. Then Terra heard a soft yet powerful feminine voice who said, "Terra, a terrible curse will befall the people of this city at midnight. There is no way to stop this from happening and you must escape. Your friends will need you so you must escape the city and return once the curse has past."

Terra suddenly awoken from her dream with the message still ringing in her head. Terra breathed heavily as she thought about her dream. She knew that it was a vision she had seen, a vision warning her to get out of town. She sat up out of bed and looked at her clock which revealed that it was 11 o'clock PM. One hour until midnight. Terra wanted to warn her friends of the danger but she knew better than to disobey an instruction from a psychic vision. Terra slipped out of bed, ran up the stairs to her door, and then ran out into the darkness of night. She used her psionics to give her night vision so she could see in the dark. She ran as fast as she could through the park and even into the open streets. She used her powers to keep track of the time and, like an internal clock, she was capable of counting the minutes until midnight as she ran. After so much running, Terra finally reached the outskirts of town and into the surrounding forest. She leaned onto a nearby tree with one paw in order to catch her breath. Knowing that there was only a few minutes left until midnight, she climbed up the tree she was leaning on as fast as she could until she reached the top of the tree so she could see the city before her. From there, she anxiously waited. She wasn't sure what was going to happen but she knew it will happen. The divine forces wanted her here to keep her safe but she had to find out why.

Terra shivered as a sudden wind picked up. She looked out over the city, waiting for some sign of danger. According to the internal clock she had created using her psionics, she knew that it was already five minutes after midnight. She wasn't sure what to think about this and figured she must have heard the warning wrong. She was about to climb down the tree and go back into the city when she suddenly saw a flash of red light in the distance. She watched the light source as it shot out from the center of the city and into the sky like a pillar. The crimson light then spread out from its original spot and past through the whole city like a tidal wave of light. Terra watched in stunned silence as the wave of light started moving towards her. Terra was about to make a run for until the light suddenly stopped then vanished before it could make contact with her. A fraction of energy came from the light and it past through Terra, causing the quills on her back stand on end. Whatever it was that had just past through the city, it was obviously powerful in nature. Something like that must have come from a possibly divine source of power or something close to that kind of power. Terra was fearful for her friends so she immediately teleported back into the park.

She directed her teleportation to send her to her front door. Once she reached her home, she immediately ran next door to Neteru and Mara's home. She was concerned the strange spell she had witnessed had harmed her friends so she had to find out if it did. She opened the door to Neteru and Mara's underground home and immediately ran down the steps leading to the door.

"Neteru. Mara." cried out Terra as she frantically searched the living room. They weren't there so Terra ran into Neteru and Mara's bedroom. She turned on the light switch and found Neteru and Mara lying in their bed. The two of them were asleep until Terra turned on the light and woke them up. They opened their eyes and looked up at Terra.

"Terra, what are you doing here?" asked Mara irritably.

"I'm terribly sorry for waking you two but something just happened." said Terra. She to their bed side and began to explain to Neteru and Mara about her vision and about how she escaped the town in time to witness a curse pass through the town.

"I don't know what that spell did but it must have been powerful if it affected the entire town like that." said Terra.

"Have you found out what the spell has done?" asked Neteru.

"I have not." said Terra. "Infact, I haven't seen anything out of place." Neteru sighed in thought.

"I don't know what that spell could be but I think we should wait until morning because I'm tired." said Neteru. Terra would have argued but after losing an hour of sleep and spending that hour running across town had really warn her out.

"Okay, we can deal with it in the morning." said Terra. Without another word, she walked out of the bedroom.

"Good night, Terra." said Mara as Terra left. As she did, Terra turned off the light, filling the room with darkness once again. Once Mara and Neteru curled back into bed, Mara asked, "Neteru, are you sure this is a good idea? Investigating the cause of the spell later, that is." Neteru sighed.

"I honestly don't know." said Neteru. "I believe Terra when she said that this is serious but I'm tired and we probably can't do much in the dark anyway."

"I suppose you're right." said Mara. The two leaned over and kissed each other. "Good night, Neteru."

"Good night." said Neteru who managed to fall asleep immediately after words.

The next morning, Laura was startled to wake up in complete darkness. It was so dark that Laura couldn't see anything.

"What the..." said Laura. When she managed to return to full awareness, she realized that the reason why she couldn't see was because some kind of large and heavy covering was covering her body. Laura began to panic because she realized how hard it was the breath. "Where am I?" said Laura in panic. She began to work her way out from out of the large covering until she finally managed to reach an opening. Now that she was in the light, she was shocked at what she saw. The large covering that hid her was her blanket. Her bed and her entire room was so much bigger now, as if she was in a world of giants.

"Am I dreaming or did I shrink during the night?" asked Laura too herself. She scratched her head in thought and when she did, she felt soft, round ears. Laura froze in terror as she realized what this meant. She looked at her hands and realized that they had been replaced with hamster paws. Laura then looked at the rest of her body and realized she was completely nude and was covered in soft fur. In a panic, Laura ran to her desk and leaped onto her desk. She located her hand-held mirror which sat on top of her desk. She looked down upon the mirror and gasped as she realized she had turned into a hamster once again. Laura had transformed into a hamster that was covered completely in brown fur, same color as her hair color and she even had miniature hair clips on her head. Her frightened expression was clearly visible in her reflection, revealing one scared looking hamster.

She ran over to the side of her desk and noticed Hamtaro's cage with Hamtaro sleeping in the little box in the cage. Laura cautiously climbed down the desk and she worked her way into the cage. She ran over to the box and found Hamtaro sleeping inside.

"Hamtaro, wake up." said Laura desperately.

"Zuzuzu." was Laura's only response from Hamtaro.

"HAMTARO!" shouted Laura into Hamtaro's ear. Hamtaro screamed in shock as he was suddenly awoken. When Hamtaro looked at Laura, he suddenly realized how much Laura had changed.

"Laura, is that you?" asked Hamtaro.

"Yes, it's me." said Laura.

"But Laura, you're a ham-ham again." said Hamtaro in disbelief. "How could this be?"

"I don't know." said Laura in fear. Hamtaro crawled out of the box.

"Calm down, Laura." said Hamtaro.

"Calm down?" said Laura. "I'm a hamster again and I might not be able to change back. What if my mom comes in here and finds me gone?"

"I'm sure there's..." said Hamtaro but he cut his sentence short when he noticed something. "Laura, do you hear that?" Laura cupped a paw to her ear.

"I don't hear anything." said Laura.

"Exactly." said Hamtaro. "Normally I can hear your parents down stairs and I don't hear them anymore."

"You're right." said Laura. "You don't think they've been turned into hamsters too?"

"We better find out." said Hamtaro. Hamtaro opened the door to his cage, allowing Laura out first before exiting the cage. The two of them scampered over to the door to the bed room, repeating "Badda-Badda" as they ran. When they came to the door, Laura asked, "How do we get through the door when we're too small to reach the knob?"

"Easy, we just have to squeeze under it." said Hamtaro. He got onto his bully and crawled under the door. It was a bit of a struggle but he managed to wiggle free and escape to the other side of the door. Laura followed his example and crawled under the door. It was tight squeeze but with Hamtaro's help, she made it through.

The two of them scampered throughout the house, looking for Forrest and Marion.

"Mom, Dad, where are you?" shouted Laura. Hamtaro and Laura scampered through the house, looking for some sign of Forrest and Marion. During the search, Hamtaro walked up to Marion and Forrest's bedroom and a thought occurred to him.

"Wait a minute, they could still be sleeping in the bedroom." thought Hamtaro. With that, he scampered up to the door, repeating "Ticky-Ticky" as he did. The door was slightly open so it was easy for Hamtaro to push the door open saying "Grooba" as he did. The bedroom was lit only by the morning sun that spilled through the windows. The room was still fairly dark but there was enough light to enable Hamtaro to see Forrest and Marrion still sleeping in bed.

"Oh there they are." said Hamtaro. "I better go up and see if they are okay." Hamtaro ran up to the bed, repeating "Ticky-Ticky" as he did. He then scurried up the legs of the bed and leaped onto the mattress itself shouting "Oopaa" as he did. Hamtaro walked up to Forrest's head and said into his ear, "Wake up, it's morning" even though he knew that Forrest wouldn't be able to hear him. When Forrest didn't move, Hamtaro tapped onto Forrest's head and discovered that Forrest was cold and was as hard as stone. When Hamtaro examined Forrest closely, in the dim light, he discovered that Forrest had turned to stone.

"What the..." said Hamtaro in shock. "How can this be?" Hamtaro climbed over Forrest's head and when he got on top of the nose, he noticed that Marion was also stone.

"Laura, I've found them." cried out Hamtaro. Laura ran into the bedroom, repeating "Badda-Badda" as she did. She noticed her dad on the bed and immediately climbed up the bed to join Hamtaro.

"Hamtaro, what happened to them?" said Laura in a panic as she came up to her father's head.

"I don't know." said Hamtaro. "This doesn't make any sense. We should go see Neteru and Mara. They would know what to do."

"Where are they?" asked Laura.

"In the park." said Hamtaro. "Just follow me." Hamtaro and Laura climbed down the bed and she followed him to her room where they squeezed under the door again and they escaped through the hole in the wall.

The two of them escaped through the hole in the wall behind the bed, scurried across the roof and leaped down the drain pipe. Laura and Hamtaro slid down the drain pipe and Hamtaro shouted "Oopaa" as he and Laura came out the other but when they flew out of the pipe, they landed on something hard.

"Ouchichi." said Hamtaro rubbing his rump. "What did I just land on?"

"Oh no, it's Brandy." said Laura.

"Heke?" said Hamtaro in surprise. He looked down upon what he stood on and gasped when he realized it really was Brandy he was standing. Brandy had turned to stone, just like Forrest and Marion.

"What is going on here?" asked Hamtaro.

"Hamtaro." said a voice nearby. Laura and Hamtaro turned their gaze towards the direction of the voice and discovered it was Oxnard. He stood outside of the bush and along side him was another ham-ham. The hamster was brown like Laura but her front was completely white in an oval shape on her chest and belly and a white circle on her face. She also wore hamster size glasses. Recognizing the glasses, Laura realized that was Kana. Hamtaro and Laura immediately ran up to Kana and Oxnard, repeating "Badda-Badda" as they did. Laura immediately came up to Kana and said, "Kana, are you okay?"

"Laura, is that you?" said Kana. She immediately hugged Laura and said to her through her tears, "Oh Laura, I thought something might have happened to you."

"Hamtaro, something has happened." said Oxnard. "Kana's parents had been turned to stone."

"It's the same thing in Laura's house." said Hamtaro. "We got to see Neteru and tell him what has happened."

"Before we go, can we stop for breakfast first?" asked Oxnard.

"Oxnard!" chorussed Laura, Kana, and Hamtaro.

"Sorry." apologized Oxnard. The four ham-hams ran towards the nearby hole, repeating "Badda-Badda" as they did, and they were on their way to see Neteru.

Hamtaro opened the door to the Clubhouse and shouted, "Ham-Hams, something terrible has happened." It was then that he noticed that along with the other Ham-Hams, there was also two additional ham-hams whom Hamtaro recognized as June and Kylie. June had turned into a hamster that was covered completely in yellow fur that was more lighter in color than Mara's. Kylie changed into a hamster that was completely covered in orange fur. She also still had her pig tails. Both girls were shaking with fear. As Hamtaro stared at the two ham-hams in disbelief, Oxnard, Laura, and Kana squeezed out from behind Hamtaro and saw them.

"June, Kylie, what are you two doing here?" asked Laura as herself and Kana came up to them.

"Oh Laura, how can this be?" asked Kylie. "I just woke up like this."

"Me too." said June.

"So you guys turned into hamsters too?" asked Hamtaro.

"Actually, only June, Kylie, Laura, and Kana are hamsters." said Panda. "Everyone else's humans have been turned to stone. My humans are rock solid, including Mimi."

"My humans are so bored, they are as stiff as stone. Hehehe." said Howdy laughing at his bad joke.

"Howdy, enough with the bad jokes, we got a problem on our paws." said Dexter irritably.

"What do you think happened, Moonbeam?" asked Maxwell.

"Obviously some powerful form of magic had cursed the town but how and what, I do not know." said Moonbeam. "And what is even more baffling is how come they became ham-hams while everyone else is stone."

"Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that they've been hamsters before." suggested Boss.

"But if that was the case, then that must mean..." Laura was about to suggest that Travis must be a hamster too but she was interrupted when Travis, the hamster, came into the room. Travis's hamster form is a gray hamsters with black tiger stripes located in the same position as Sandy and Stan's brown tiger stripes.

"Travis." said Laura in surprise.

"What has happened here?" said Travis. "I'm a hamster again."

"I know this doesn't look good but I think Neteru can help us." said Laura.

"He better because my parents have changed into stone statues." said Travis irritated.

"You're not the only one, Travis." said Kana. "Our family is stone too.

"We'll explain it to you on the way." said Hamtaro to Travis. "We better go to Neteru right away. Everyone, follow me." Hamtaro ran out the door while everyone else followed, repeating "Badda-Badda" as they did.

Neteru and Mara were in their kitchen, eating breakfast when Neteru suddenly heard the sound of someone knocking on his door.

"I wonder who that could be." said Neteru. He walked out of the kitchen, leaving Mara behind, and he headed up the stairs. He opened the horizontal door and was surprised to see all of the Ham-Hams in front of his door.

"What's going on here?" asked Neteru.

"Neteru, something terrible has happened." said Hamtaro. It was then that Neteru suddenly noticed Laura and her friends and his mouth dropped open in shock.

"How did they become ham-hams again?" said Neteru.

"We don't know but some how, they turned into ham-hams while everyone else had turned to stone." explained Oxnard nervously. Realizing that this is serious, Neteru called Mara to come up. Once Mara was outside, everyone explained about what had happened to the town. When they were finished, Mara suddenly remembered what Terra said to them last night.

"Neteru, this must be what Terra was talking about." said Mara. "Whatever that spell was that she saw must be what caused everyone to turn into stone."

"You're right, we better ask her." said Neteru. They all walked over to the next door, repeating "Wasa-Wasa" as they did. Using his feet, Neteru knocked on the door. It took several knocks before Terra poked her head out from her door. She yawned loudly as she stepped out of her home.

"Hello, Ham-Hams." said Terra. "Sorry I over slept."

"Terra, I want you to tell me what happened here last night." said Neteru.

"Oh yeah." said Terra as she remembered. She told them how she had the vision and she left the town to see a powerful spell sweep the town.

"Did you see where it came from?" asked Neteru.

"No, it was way too dark out then." said Terra. "I couldn't tell for sure."

"Well, we'll need to find out where the spell originated." said Neteru. "Once we find out what happened then hopefully we'll find a way to reverse it."

"Where should we start?" asked Hamtaro.

"I think the spell may have occurred somewhere in or around Laura's school." suggested Terra. "Perhaps it originated there."

"Good idea." said Neteru. "What's the fastest route to Laura's school?"

"Kana and me used to walk there all the time so we can show you." said Laura.

"Looks like we're following you." said Neteru. The huge collection of hamsters all followed Laura and Kana to school, unaware that at the moment, another person was waking up to find out he was a hamster.


	3. A Grudge Against Humanity

Journey to the Island of Halastia

Chapter 3: A Grudge Against Humanity

Roberto awoken to find himself smothered in bed sheets.

"Hey, what gives?" said Roberto irritably as he tried to push the sheets off him. When that didn't work, he managed to crawl out from underneath the sheets, gasping for air a bit as he did. "What happened?" Once he could see his room, he now realized that he had shrunken making the rest of the room seem larger than it did.

"Whew, this must be some weird dream." said Roberto. "I hope I wake up soon." He tried pinching his arm in a vain attempt to wake himself up and when he did, he realized that he didn't pinch through clothing. He pinched through soft fur. Curious, he examined his body and discovered that he was unclothed and his body was furry with paws for hands and feet. Recognizing the body he was in, he shook in horror as he said, "This can't be." Roberto needed to find a mirror to confirm his suspicions. He ran towards the edge of the bed, repeating "Badda-Badda" as he did. He leaped off the edge of the bed and landed on the nearby chair with the grace of a cat. He then leaped off of the chair and ran for his mirror. Roberto had a fairly messy room so there was a lot of junk lying around the floor. Junk that formed obstacles for Roberto as he swerved and dodge all of it in order to get to his mirror. He managed to reach the mirror that was screwed into his wall. The mirror was human size with a thin metal frame. It was more than large enough for Roberto to enable him to see himself and once he managed to get himself into a position suitable so he could see himself, he gasped as his suspicions were confirmed. He had been turned into a hamster that was entirely covered in crimson colored fur. The fur on top of his head stuck out everywhere in the same hair fashion Roberto's hair was in when he was human. Upon seeing himself, he began to feel afraid.

"Oh no, not again." said Roberto. "This can't be happening." In his panic, he aimlessly ran past all the haphazardly placed belongings on the floor as if he was trying to escape from his reflection. When he reached his bedroom door, he squeezed himself under it.

Once he had managed to escape his room, he was greeted by the sight of his dog, Samba, who towered over him. Seeing that small dog bigger than him made Roberto shout out in horror but when he realized that Samba was not moving, he looked at the dog curiously.

"Samba, what's wrong?" asked Roberto. Samba gave no response to Roberto. Roberto walked up to Samba and when he noticed the marble-like coloration and constancy that Samba was made of, he realized that the dog was made out of stone. The position of the dog statue was suggestive that Samba was sniffing at something underneath Roberto's bedroom door when he was turned to stone.

"What's going on here?" asked Roberto to no one. "First I've been turned into a hamster, now my dog is a statue. I got to figure out what's going on here." Roberto continued to search through the house in order to find his parents, repeating "Wasa-Wasa" as he did. When he didn't find them in the living room and in the kitchen, he then searched into his parents' room. Just as he did before at his own room, he squeezed underneath the door to get inside. He gasped when he found them both in their bed as stone statues, the same way as Samba. Their bodies lying on the beds as if they were still asleep. Roberto's breathing came out shaky out of fear.

"Oh man, what's going on here?" said Roberto to no one. "I got to find out who did this." Roberto's gaze landed on his parents' bedroom window which was wide open. "And I guess I'll have to go out to find answers." He ran towards the window, climbed up the dresser, and then leaped onto the open window. Looking over the edge, Roberto began to feel dizzy from the sight of being so high off the ground (from a hamster's point of view, it was high). Taking in a shaky breath, Roberto began to climb down the side of the house and once he reached the ground, he ran out into the outside world, repeating "Ticky-Ticky" as he did.

Meanwhile, the Ham-Hams and Terra were all running towards the school, repeating "Badda-Badda" as they did. Oxnard was beginning to grow weak from hunger and from all the running and when his stomach growled loudly, Oxnard said, "Can't we stop for a snack, I haven't even had breakfast yet."

"Me neither." said Cappy, also growing weak from hunger.

"We're almost there." said Laura. "Normally it doesn't take this long but then again, we're always used to having to walk there as humans, not hamsters." Oxnard was about to complain some more but didn't when he saw that the school was finally within view as they approached it.

"I hope they still have food in there." said Oxnard hungrily.

The huge collection of hamsters, and one hedgehog, ran as fast as they could across the street and into the school's parking lot, unaware that someone was watching them from in a tree. The sinister looking individual glared evilly at the Ham-Hams, waiting to strike once they are close enough. His sinister gaze was briefly felt by Terra, sending a shiver down her spine. Terra shouted, "Stop" before abruptly stopping her sprint. Stan was directly behind Terra when Terra sudden stopped and it was so unexpected that Stan would have ran right into Terra's quills if Sandy wasn't behind him to grab onto his shoulders to stop him. Regardless, Stan did stop uncomfortably close to those sharp quills.

"Watch it, babe." said Stan. "I nearly got a free acupuncture."

"I'm terribly sorry, Stan, but I felt the presence of some kind of evil force nearby." said Terra. "I think something powerfully evil is watching us."

"Evil force, yeah right." said Howdy. Neteru, however, was more aware of Terra's warning and when he noticed someone in the trees, he cried out, "_Volucambara_." Instantly, a clear dome of energy surrounded the Ham-Hams. Neteru's staff glowed bright as he maintained the spell. The figure in the tree said, "_Docamenday valo causzocyo_." From his paws, he fired a green ray of negative energy towards the Ham-Hams. The energy took the form of a human hand as it flew towards them. The hand struck the shield created by Neteru and the force was so powerful, the shield was destroyed, causing Neteru to fall backwards from the force of it. Mara, who was right behind him, managed to catch him as he fell backwards.

"Neteru, are you okay?" asked Mara.

"Yeah, I'm fine." said Neteru. Neteru got back onto his feet and held out his staff towards the figure in the tree. Mara and Moonbeam did the same.

"Show yourself." ordered Neteru to the figure. When Neteru got no response, he said, "I demand you come down here and face us like a ham."

"But I am no ham-ham." said the figure in a cold voice. "I am something much more." The mysterious figure jumped off from the tree branch and landed gracefully onto his feet without hurting himself. The figure then walked up to them and as he did, they were capable of making out more details about this strange creature. He appeared to be a ham-ham but he seemed more devilish in appearance. He was as tall as Boss and he was covered in dark brownish red fur. His eyes were completely white (as oppose to the usual dark eyes with highlights) and his ears were pointed. Around his neck was a necklace with an upside down pentacle hanging from it. Many of the ham-girls quivered in fear at the sight of the devilish looking ham-ham.

"I must admit, I'm surprised to see that there are survivors." said the devilish ham-ham. "I guess the spell really doesn't affect ham-hams."

"Spell?" said Neteru. "You mean that you are the one who changed everyone into stone?"

"Yes, with the help of this." said the devilish creature. He pulled out (seemingly out of nowhere) a dome like object that looked like half of a pearl with a metal covering at the bottom. By hamster standards, the stone was large enough to be carried with both paws.

"This is a little trinket I've managed to swipe from Ankorbak." said the fiend.

"Just who are you?" asked Neteru threateningly.

"I am Glabrezu." said the demon. "Scourge of all humankind. And what ham-ham are you supposed to be?"

"I'm Neteru." said Neteru

"Neteru?" said Glabrezu. "Sounds familiar. Have we met before?"

"I make a habit of not associating with such vial creatures." said Neteru.

Meanwhile, Roberto had wandered into school grounds when he suddenly noticed Glabrezu and the Ham-Hams.

"What's going on over there?" asked Roberto to himself. He sneaked over to the confrontation cautiously, tip toeing and sneaking behind the trees and bushes.

"Why would you do such a horrible thing?" asked Pashmina.

"Ookwee." said Penelope. Glabrezu just laughed.

"You foolish ham-hams." said Glabrezu. "Why do you care so much for these humans? They think they are so smart and superior with their tall stature and technology. Humans are nothing more than parasites that need to be irritated."

"That is not true." said Hamtaro. "They are our best friends and..."

"If you are supportive of the human race and then you are a traitor to all of ham-ham kind." said Glabrezu.

"Why did you change the humans into stone?" demanded Moonbeam.

"My reasons are my own." replied Glabrezu.

"And what about us?" asked Laura. "Why did you change us into hamsters?"

"You're humans?" asked Glabrezu.

"Yes, or we used to be humans, no thanks to you." said Laura

"Whoever it was that changed you into ham-hams was not me but I think the change is a real improvement." said Glabrezu.

"You didn't change us into hamsters?" asked Kana.

"No, the spell I cast was designed to change everyone into stone." explained Glabrezu. "I have no idea why you've been changed into ham-hams."

Roberto had been listening to the conversation and he was shocked and mad.

"Why that jerk." said Roberto angrily. "I autta pound his head in." He found a rock nearby and using his skills learned through soccer, he kicked the rock like a soccer ball and the rock struck Glabrezu in the back of the head.

"Ouchichi." said Glabrezu. Angered, Glabrezu spun around to face Roberto and shouted "_Jevio_." A gray beam of light fired from Glabrezu's finger tips and the beams struck Roberto in the head, knocking him unconscious. While Glabrezu was distracted, Terra manifested her psionics to grant her telekinetic powers. She used her telekinetics to grab the stone out of Glabrezu paws. Glabrezu quickly realized what she was doing and immediately cried out, "_Vrog neagyok_." Once the spell was spoken, Glabrezu immediately stomped onto the ground and a fissure began to form like a growing tare in a piece of paper. The fissure moved away from Glabrezu's feet and before it could reach Terra, Mara quickly pushed her out of harms way just as the fissure formed right under the spot where Terra was seconds before. However, that push had completely disrupted Terra's concentration and the stone fell down the fissure. As it fell, Glabrezu used his own telekinetic powers to bring the stone to himself and he clutched the stone tightly in his paws once he had it.

Moonbeam raised her staff and said, "_Neloga baloca_." From the jewel on her staff, a gust of freezing snow shot from it. Glabrezu saw the attack coming and he held up his paw and the ice melted as if his raised paw was conjuring an invisible wall of heat.

"You really think you have the power to beat me." said Glabrezu mockingly. "I'm no mere mortal. I am a demon from Hell itself. My power is far greater than your powers."

"We'll see about that." said Neteru. Both Mara and Neteru stood side by side as they raised their staffs and said, "_Jeenallaw bock_." The spell joined the two staffs in a beam of energy that formed a purple light.

"_Neloga baloca_." chorused Neteru and Mara and from the energy that joined the two staffs, a huge cone of swirling ice and snow shot forth and struck Glabrezu hard in the front, causing him to drop a piece of paper that he had been carrying. The paper landed onto the ground where Glabrezu used to stand. Glabrezu himself hit the ground hard, covered in cold snow, but he still held onto the stone tightly. Realizing that he was outnumbered, Glabrezu said, "You will not stop me so easily. My master, Bocka, will see to it that you will die with the rest of the human race." In a flash of purple flame, Glabrezu teleported away.

The other Ham-Hams stood there in silence.

"Do you really think he is from Hell?" asked Terra to Neteru.

"I don't know but the idea of a monster escaping from Hell is supposed to be impossible." said Neteru.

"Now what are we going to do?" asked Howdy. "We're in more trouble than a cow that is about ot be milked by a farmer with cold and needle covered hands. Hehe!"

"Despite your lousy hummer, Howdy, you're right." said Neteru. "If that stone really is from Ankorbak then it would be too powerful for me to undo. Our only chance of undoing that curse is to get that stone from Glabrezu."

"Can't we just use the Ankorbak Pylons?" asked Travis.

"No because we don't know how to work the Ankorbak Pylons and there is no way we can get everyone in town into Ankorbak in order to break the spell." said Neteru.

"So how are we going to find Glabrezu?" asked Moonbeam.

"I guess we have to relay on divination." said Neteru. Bijou's gaze turned in the direction Glabrezu was and noticed Roberto

"Look, zat poor ham-ham eez injured." said Bijou, pointing to Roberto who lay under the tree.

"We better help him." said Neteru. They ran over to Roberto, repeating "Chick-ah Chick-ah" as they did. Along the way, Bijou noticed the piece of paper that Glabrezu had left behind and she had picked it up as she ran past it.

They all gathered around Roberto as he groaned in pain. As he lay on the ground, he opened his eyes and looked up at the ham-hams.

"Are you okay, mister?" asked Sandy. Roberto sat up as he stared at them. He quickly got back onto his feet, backed up against the nearby tree, and said, "Who are you? Get away from me."

"We're not going to hurt you." said Laura.

"Leave me alone." said Roberto again. "I don't like hamsters." After hearing that statement, Laura suddenly recognized his voice.

"Roberto, is that you?" asked Laura. It was then that Roberto recognized the voice that was speaking to him.

"Laura?" asked Roberto. "is that you?"

"Yes, it's me." said Laura.

"Who's Roberto?" asked Terra. Roberto first noticed Terra when she spoke and he was surprised to see a hedgehog since he had never seen one before.

"He's a friend from school." explained Kylie to Terra.

"It's okay, Roberto." said Travis.

"Travis?" asked Roberto in surprise. "How can this be? How is it that I have become a hamster again and become surrounded by about a dozen more hamsters and a porcupine?"

"I am not a porcupine." protested Terra. "I am a hedgehog."

"Again?" asked Laura. "You mean you have been a hamster before?" There was a long pause before Roberto said, "Yes." It was then that Neteru noticed the piece of paper Bijou was holding in her paw.

"Bijou, what is that?" asked Neteru.

"Eet'z just a piece of paper." said Bijou. "Glabrezu had dropped eet."

"He did?" asked Neteru. "Let me see it." Bijou gave Neteru the paper and he examined it closely. Neteru looked at the page curiously and judging by the tare along the side of the paper, Neteru could tell that the paper must have been torn out of a book of some kind. As he looked at the writing on the paper, he realized that the paper was a map of an island called Halastia.


	4. The Journey to Halastia Begins

Journey to the Island of Halastia

Chapter 4: The Journey to Halastia Begins

"Oh, I'm so hungry." whined Oxnard. "Can we please go back to the Clubhouse for some breakfast?" When Neteru heard his stomach growl, he said, "Okay, Oxnard. We'll go back to the Clubhouse." Neteru and the Ham-Hams walked back to the Clubhouse, repeating "Wasa-Wasa" as they did. Along the way, Neteru held the map in his paw, looking at it curiously and wondering what it could all mean. However, he was just as hungry as the others and with a growling stomach distracting him, he didn't bother to look at it for very long.

Once they entered the Clubhouse, everyone gathered around the round table. There was not enough chairs to accommodate for everyone so some of them had to sit on the floor. Boss gathered as much seeds and nuts as he could spare and laid them out on the table.

"Okay, eat up, everyone." said Boss. Soon, the Ham-Hams and the former humans were grabbing all the seeds and nuts as they could and eating them, repeating "Krmp-Krmp" as they did. Oxnard was scarfing down the seeds as if he hadn't eaten in a month. Throughout the table, sounds of "Packa-Packa" and "Krmp-Krmp" could be heard all over the room. Terra, however, wasn't eating with them. She had gone back to her home so she could eat some of her own food. Knowing that she likes to eat insects, the Ham-Hams didn't ask what it was she was wanting to eat. Laura was repeating "Krmp-Krmp" as she ate a sun flower seed when she noticed Roberto sitting on the floor with his knees folded up to his chest and his face buried into his knees. Laura walked up to Roberto and asked, "Roberto, Why aren't you eating?" Roberto lifted his head to look up at t Laura.

"I'm just hoping that this is all a dream and that I'll wake up in my room any minute now." said Roberto.

"But this isn't a dream." said Laura. Overhearing the conversation, everyone began to slow down their pace of eating so they could eavesdrop.

"I just don't understand how this could be." said Roberto. "It's like my nightmare is starting all over again."

"You know, Roberto, you mentioned that you were a hamster before." said Laura. "Could you please tells what happened the last time you were a hamster." Roberto stared into Laura's glossy eyes and decided to tell them a story he had never told a soul. He stood up and now everyone was looking at Roberto, wondering what it was he was going to tell them.

"It all began when I was only seven years old, before I even moved to this town." said Roberto. "I had gone with my parents to the Yokata forest on a camping trip. Everything started out okay until on the second day when I had wondered off on my own. As I did, I saw this really small glowing statue in the forest. I walked up to the statue and was about to pick it up when suddenly, I was engulfed in a bright light and when I woke up, I was a hamster. Realizing I was a hamster, I began to panic and I tried to call my parents for help but they couldn't hear me. With no one else to turn to, I wondered off, lost in the forest, until I met this hamster. She didn't give me her name but she wore a black robe that covered her body and her face. She was covered in white fur, as far as I could tell, and when I told her I was a human, she placed some kind of magic wand on my head and instantly, I was human again."

"Well that was certainly an unusual story." said Howdy.

"Did that white hamster tell you anything else?" asked Neteru.

"When I asked her what that statue was, she simply said that I wasn't ready to know yet." said Roberto. "Ever since the day I was turned into a hamster, I've always had a fear of them and all rodents in general."

"So that's why you always freak out when you see me." said Hamtaro.

"Yes, every time I see a hamster, it reminds me of that fateful day I became a hamster myself." said Roberto. "Never thought I would find myself talking to a hamster."

"Do you remember the words to the spell the white hamster put on you to revert you back to human?" asked Neteru.

"No." said Roberto.

"Wait a minute." said Kana. "Did you just say that the statue was in the Yokata forest?"

"Yes." said Roberto. "Why?"

"Yokata is where we found the statue that turned us into hamsters." said Kana

"She's right." said Travis. "That outdoor school we went to was in Yokata so that must mean that Roberto had encountered the same statue that turned us into hamsters."

"You mean that you guys have been hamsters before?" asked Roberto. Laura and the others told Roberto the story about what happened when they were turned into hamsters. Roberto listened closely as they told him how they were changed into hamsters and their adventure that followed. When they were finished, Roberto said, "There is one thing I don't understand. Why is it that myself, Laura, Kana, Kylie, June, and Travis changed into hamsters when everyone else was transformed into stone?"

"I've been thinking about that question myself," said Neteru, "and it occurred to me that the only thing you six have in common is that you all have been hamsters before."

"That still doesn't explain how we became hamsters again." said Roberto.

"Neteru, I remember that Glabrezu said that hamsters are immune to the spell." said Mara. "Do you think that some how they turned into hamsters in order to spare themselves from the spell?"

"You could be right." said Neteru as he placed a finger to his lip in thought. "You could be right."

Meanwhile, Terra was at her home, gnawing on some crickets. She scarfed down the cricket she held in her paws and when it was fully ingested, Terra laid back in her chair.

"Full belly certainly feels good." said Terra. Once she had finished her breakfast, she walked up the stairs to the exit so she could rejoin the Ham-Hams at the Clubhouse. The moment she opened the door, she saw a white bird fly overhead. Curious, she watched as the white bird sail overhead and began to descend towards the trees below it. Terra was surprised by the sight of the bird beginning to dive down like a raptor gliding down towards potential prey. Terra was about to get into a defensible position when she suddenly noticed a gray colored hamster riding on the bird's back. Terra watched in amazement as the bird landed gracefully onto the grass right next to Terra the ham-ham still on top as if the bird was a flying mount.

"Hello, I haven't see you before." said the hamster. The hamster was covered entirely in gray fur and he had a black mark on his face that looked like an eye patch. He had a large red nose which surprised Terra since she had never seen a ham-ham with such a large red nose. Terra just stared at him, not sure what to say.

"You speak Ham-Ham, don't you?" asked the hamster as he got off the bird's back.

"Yes I do." said Terra. "My name is Terra and I'm new in town."

"I'm known as Sabu." said the hamster shaking Terra's paw. "And this is my girlfriend, Francoise." Francoise chirped loudly in response, ruffling her feathers in the process.

"This is your girlfriend?" asked Terra skeptically.

"I know it sounds weird but even though we're two different species, we love each other very much and that's all that matters." said Sabu.

"Well that's sweet." said Terra.

"By the way, what happened to the town?" asked Sabu. "It's filled with statues."

"Oh, that." said Terra. "I'm afraid, something terrible has happened to the town."

"Really, tell me about it." said Sabu. Terra explained to Sabu and Francoise about the curse that had overcome the town. She told them about how the curse has changed four people into hamsters and turned everyone else into stone, and how it was the work of a demon named Glabrezu that turned everyone to stone. Sabu was amazed by the story.

"If everyone has been turned to stone, how are you guys going to change them back?" asked Sabu.

"We don't know." said Terra. "We do know that we need that stone Glabrezu had used to curse the town in order to change everyone back but we don't know where he went to."

"Can you take me to the Ham-Hams?" said Sabu.

"Certainly, I was about to go there myself." said Terra. Sabu turned to Francoise and said to her, "I'm going over to visit the Ham-Hams. I'll be back later." He hugged Francoise around the neck and she chirped in response. She then flew off into the air and Sabu waved "Good-bye" as she flew away.

"Okay, Terra, lead the way." said Sabu. And with that, the two of them walked back to the Clubhouse.

After eating breakfast, Neteru was looking at the map that Glabrezu had left behind, wondering what significance it had. It was clearly a map of Halastia. It wasn't very detailed, however, because it only showed the location of all the major cities. Mara looked over Neteru's shoulder and asked, "What is it that you find so fascinating about that map?"

"This map was left behind by Glabrezu and it appears there is something significant Halastia." said Neteru. Suddenly, the door to the Clubhouse swung wide open and then the Ham-Hams were greeted by Sabu saying, "Hamha, friends."

"Sabu." said Hamtaro as he and the Ham-Hams ran up to greet him. "What are you doing here?"

"I was just in the neighborhood." said Sabu. "By the way, sorry to hear about what happened to the town." When Sabu noticed the former humans, he asked, "You must be the six kids that got turned into ham-hams."

"That's us." said Laura. They introduced themselves to Sabu except for Roberto whose introduction was less than friendly.

"So Sabu, do you have any ideas as to how to reverse the curse." said Oxnard.

"I'm afraid not." said Sabu. "I only found out about the curse when Terra told me."

Sabu began to tell his story about how he and Francoise were on a trip and came across this town when Terra, who stood beside Sabu, noticed Neteru with the map in his paws, staring at it as if he was hypnotized.

"Hey Neteru, why are you so transfixed by that map?" asked Terra. Neteru didn't answer. Curious, everyone began to gather around Neteru to look at the map he held in his paw.

"Hey Neteru, what are you doing, staring at that map like a transfixed owl? Heh heh." said Howdy, the only one laughing at his bad joke.

"Is that a map of Halastia?" asked Sabu.

"Yes, it is." said Neteru, taking his eyes off the paper for the first time to look at Sabu. "Glabrezu had left it behind and I've noticed that there is some marking on the map."

"Markings?" said Pashmina. "Like what?"

"In red ink, someone had underlined the name of a city in Halastia." said Neteru. "Zolphville is the name of the city underlined and under that is a note that says 'Daruth's artifact is here."

"Daruth?" said Sabu.

"Do you know him?" asked Neteru.

"Of-course I do, he's my cousin." said Sabu.

"Heke?" chorussed the Ham-Hams.

"Yeah, I was born and raised in Halastia." said Sabu. "I have a cousin in Halastia named Daruth and he collects rare and valuable antiques. He even lives in Zolphville and Glabrezu might be after one of Daruth's artifacts."

"Where is Halastia, anyway." asked Sandy.

"I've read about Halastia." said Maxwell. "It is the largest ham-ham dominated city in the world."

"But I thought Rokugon was the biggest ham-ham dominated city in the world." said Dexter.

"Rokugon is the actually the biggest ham-ham dominated city in Japan and only the third largest in the world." said Maxwell. "Halastia is so large, it is not even considered a city. It is considered the world's first and only ham-ham country complete with its own government and cities that make up the bulk of Halastia. Halastia is a large island that has never been discovered by humans. It is located several thousand miles away from here and, from a human to hamster ratio, the island is even bigger than Japan itself."

"Wow, what a wonderful place." said Pashmina.

"Yus ut duz." said Penelope, stumbling with the words.

"If Glabrezu has marked this point on the map, that must mean that he is planning on going to Halastia and steal something from Daruth." said Neteru. "If this is true, then that must mean that Glabrezu is or will be there and hopefully with the stone we need to reverse the curse."

"Is Glabrezu capable of teleporting there?" asked Maxwell.

"A teleportation spell can only teleport someone to a place they are familiar with." explained Neteru. "If he has been there before, there is a chance he could use teleporation and if so, he could easily have left before we can even reach Halastia. It that happens we would have gone all that way for nothing."

"We have to try." said Hamtaro. "Sabu, can you lead us to Halastia?"

"Of-course I can." said Sabu. "I know of a dock that can lend you a boat that can transport you guys to Halastai in no time."

"Hamtastic." said Hamtaro. "We'll find Glabrezu and make him change the town back to normal."

"And what about us?" asked Roberto. "I don't want to stay as a hamster forever."

"Don't worry, Roberto, I'm sure we'll find a way to change you guys back." said Neteru. "But right now, we need to find Glabrezu."

"Okay, Hams, lets get ready to go to Halastia." said Hamtaro.

"Oopaa!" chorussed the Ham-Hams.

Immediately, they all go to work preparing for the trip to Halastia. Because of how far away the trip is, they decided to take the Ham-Ham Train to the docks. To accommodate for the new passengers, an extra car was attached to the train. A luggage car, attached to the very end of the train, was being loaded up with lots of supplies such as tools, back packs, flash lights, matches, food, everything that was needed for the trip. Laura and her friends were helping with the loading the luggage. While carrying the luggage, Roberto felt uneasy moving around in his new body. The idea of being so small seemed so scary to him but the fact he was going to help find a way to revert him back to normal was motivation for him to press on. Sabu sat on Francoise's back as she stood on a high branch in the trees, waiting for the Ham-Hams to finish with the packing. Boss, Neteru, Mara, and Terra all helped to strap the supplies into the luggage car with rope once everything was packed up. Once they were secured and tied down, Boss said, "There, the luggage is secured good and tight and there is no way it is going to fall off."

"Now that we got our supplies tied down, we might as well be on our way then." said Neteru. He cupped his paws around his mouth and shouted out, "Everyone, get into positions."

"What's he talking about?" asked Roberto to Laura.

"He means that we got to take our seats." said Laura.

"You mean on the train?" asked Roberto.

"Of-course." said Laura. Laura directed Roberto to the train and one by one, they all got into a seat on the train. When Roberto sat down into a chair, he was surprised to see the peddles that were under his feet.

"What's the peddles for?" asked Roberto.

"Have you ever ridden on a bike?" asked Laura.

"Are you telling me that we're peddling this thing?" asked Roberto.

"You got it." said Laura.

"How?" demanded Roberto. "This thing looks more like a toy."

"Well, Panda made this train and I feel confident in his engineering skills." said Laura. "Trust me, you have nothing to worry about in regards to how functional this train is." Hamtaro got into the driver's seat of the train.

"Okay Hams, lets get ready to get this train started." announced Hamtaro. The Ham-Hams all began to push the peddles of the train and to Roberto's amazement, the train began to move forwards. Francoise saw the train move and then flew into the air (with Sabu riding on top of her) so she could fly ahead of it.

"To the ocean, Francoise." said Sabu. Francoise chirped in response. Hamtaro directed the Ham-Ham train to follow Francoise from the ground. The Ham-Hams pumped the peddles on the train, repeating "Hamma-Hamma-Hamma-Hamma-Choo Choo" as they did. Their journey to save the town has begun.


	5. A Bit of Sea Sickness

Journey to the Island of Halastia

Chapter 5: A Bit of Sea Sickness

The Ham-Ham Train was steered towards the underground tunnels under the city. Boss, who have traveled down these tunnels before, directed Hamtaro through them. From their current position, Sabu and Francoise could not be seen by the Ham-Hams since the two of them were high in the air, over looking the ground below them. According to the plan, Sabu was going to meet them at the abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of town and the safest way for the Ham-Hams to get there is underground. The tunnel was very dark, especially since the only light they had was from the little light bulb on the front of the train.

"Are you sure that Boss knows his way around these tunnels?" asked Roberto.

"Of-course he does." said Pashmina. "Boss had even built some of the these tunnels himself."

"I just wish I had more light, though." said Roberto. Once Roberto said that, the train had reached the exit to the tunnel. Roberto blinked his eyes in pain from the sudden change from dark to light. The train finally pulled to a stop right next to the abandoned warehouse. The warehouse was in poor shape. It was falling apart, decaying, and a "Condemned" sign was placed on the front.

"Now we just have to find out where Sabu and Francoise is." said Boss.

"We're right here, Ham-Hams." said Sabu. The Ham-Hams looked up overhead and they could see Sabu on Francoise's back while she was perched on a tree.

"Follow us and we'll take you along the shortest path to the docks." said Sabu. "Lets go, Francoise." Francoise took off into the air and headed East.

"Wait up, Sabu." said Hamtaro as the Ham-Hams began to pump the peddles of the train, repeating "Hamma-Hamma-Hamma-Hamma-Choo Choo" as they did.

It was the longest ride the Ham-Hams had ever taken on the Ham-Ham Train. They road through the forests, avoiding all the large animals they encountered such as the raccoons and bears. All the animals were relatively friendly except for the birds which Neteru had to scare off with his powers. It was exhausting work on the Ham-Hams to have to pump the peddles to the train all the time. Everyone, especially Oxnard, were growing tired from all the effort. Circumstances didn't improve on the third day of their journey because it began to rain hard. Normally rain didn't bother Laura but the drops were so much more larger now that she was a hamster. It rained so hard that they had to drag the train inside a hollow log in order to keep it dry. The Ham-Hams all had crammed themselves into the log in hopes of keeping warm and dry. To help them keep warm, Terra conjured an energy field that actually felt very warm while they were inside it. Although her powers were useful, everyone did have a problem with having to share a cramped space with someone who is covered in sharp quills.

The next morning, the rain had stopped and their journey could continue. However, the ground was way too muddy for the train so Mara and Neteru had to use their powers to dry up the mud. It was a bit exhausting for the two of them because using magic so frequently can ware you out. They eventually made it to some dry land where the forest was beginning to become more flat and stable. After such a long journey, everyone was tired and weak.

"Are we there yet?" complained Stan.

"Yeah, my legs are getting stiff." said Sandy.

"I need some water." said Moonbeam. Sabu (who was the only who didn't have to work so hard to get there because he has been riding on Francoise) called down to them from the sky, "We're almost there." The Ham-Ham Train began to climb up some steep slopes on a small hill. The Ham-Hams gave the train as much of a boost as they could and when they finally made it over the top, they gasped with joy when they noticed the docks below them.

"Hamtastic, we made it." cried Hamtaro. Everyone cheered with joy knowing that their journey to the docks were finally at an end. Meanwhile, the former humans couldn't believe their eyes, especially Roberto. At the foot of the hill they were on, there was a perfect hamster size dock with hamster size ships complete with some sea food restaurants and shops. The docks reminded Laura of that field trip she and her friends took to the docks.

Terra, who was now in the driver's seat of the Ham-Ham Train, steered the train towards a tree were she parked it. Everyone joyously stepped out of the train, relieved that they finally get to rest their legs.

"Now that we're here, we just have to obtain a boat." said Neteru.

"But what are we going to do with the Ham-Ham Train?" asked Panda.

"Not to worry." said Mara. "I can take care of that detail." She lifted her staff into the air. The stone on top of it began glow brightly as Mara said the incantation. "_Gif bogla baz zana vow enue pautta bog enue_." Right before their eyes, the train began to melt like a stick of butter on a hot pan. The liquidity substance that was the train had merged into the ground and disappeared, leaving all their supplies behind.

"How'd you do zat?" asked Bijou.

"It's an advanced merge spell." said Mara. "The train has merged itself with the Earth and once we come back for the train, I can conjure another spell to bring it back."

"Will it be safe?" asked Cappy.

"Certainly." said Mara. "The only way anyone can steal it now is they have to know the counterspell."

"Well, now that the train has been taken care of, lets get our supplies and find ourselves a boat." said Neteru. Just then, Francoise swooped down from the sky and landed on the ground next to Neteru.

"Come on, I can show you guys where you can rent the boats." said Sabu to the Ham-Hams as he got off of Francoise's back. He turned to Francoise and said to her, "Sorry you can't come with us but I promise I'll back as soon as I can. You'll wait for me, wont you?" Francoise chirped in response. She then nudged Sabu's cheek and then flew off into the sky.

"Bye-Q, Francoise." said Sabu as he waved "good-bye." "Now, lets find that boat." Everyone picked up a back pack and they headed into the docks, repeating "Ticky-Ticky" as they did.

The docks looked very similar to the docks Laura and her friends had visited but instead of having it crawling with people, small birds, and sea life, it was instead filled with hamsters of all shape, size, and coloration. All of them going about their business, just like any busy dock would be. As L;aura had suspected, there were many shops on the docks. None of them sold fish but they did sell food such as seeds and vegetables. Some of them even sold ocean jewelry such as coral and pearls, all of them hamster fist size. As for the other animal life, the small fish below were no longer small. Now that Laura and the other former humans were hamsters, the fish in the water were the size of dogs or bigger. There were sea gulls nearby but none of them were near the docks. Still, the sight of those huge sea gulls made Roberto nervous.

The smell of all the food in the air made Oxnard's stomach growl.

"Oh, I'm so hungry." said Oxnard. "Can't we have some food?"

"Not now, Oxnard." said Sabu. "We need to find a boat." Oxnard sighed sadly in response. Sabu led the Ham-Hams to a small building beside the docks. The building looked like a small rental shack with a rotting roof and peeling green paint.

"Is this were we rent the boats?" asked Hamtaro.

"Yep, this is the place." said Sabu. "You guys can wait out here while Neteru and I go inside."

"Okay, Sabu, we'll wait." said Moonbeam. The others waited in a huge crowd as they watched Neteru and Sabu step into the building.

Upon entering the building, Neteru and Sabu were greeted by a room that was surprisingly clean and organized compared to the outside of the building which was grimy and warn away by the sea air. The interior was decorated with many sailing memorabilia, including steering wheels, sailor hats of all kinds, miniature ship models, and photos and paintings of ships.

"Cappy would have loved to see the hats." thought Neteru. Neteru and Sabu walked up to the counter on the other end of the room and was greeted only by the back of a huge newspaper which was held up by the ham-ham behind the desk. The news paper was so large, it hid the hamster from view

"Excuse me, sir." said Sabu. "We need tickets to the next ship heading towards Halastia." The news paper was closed, revealing the hamster behind the counter. Now that Neteru and Sabu can see the ham-ham before them, they were surprised by his appearance. He was a very fat hamster, even fatter than Oxnard, and he was covered in greasy gray fur. Infact, he was so dirty looking, he looked more like a rat than a hamster.

"What can I do for you?" asked the cashier.

"We need tickets." repeated Sabu.

"And how many tickets will you need?" asked the cashier. Neteru began to count on his fingers, counting everyone in his head how many passengers there were.

"Twenty-four." said Neteru.

"Will that be first class or coach?" asked the cashier.

"Coach." said Neteru. The cashier calculated the cost on his cash register's computer.

"That will be seventy-two keyomes." said the cashier.

"Keyomes?" asked Neteru.

"Yes, as in money." said the cashier sarcastically. "One coach ticket is worth three keyomes and three times twenty-four equals seventy-two keyomes." Neteru and Sabu fell silent as they realized a flow in their plan they had overlooked. Keyomes is the most common form of currency used by rodents, especially ham-hams. But such forms of money can only be found in rodent dominated cities.

"Do you have the money or not?" asked the cashier impatiently.

"We don't have any money but can you accept sun flower seeds?" asked Neteru.

"Not with the amounts you're talking about." said the cashier.

"Sabu, do you have any money?" asked Neteru.

"I only have fourteen keyomes." said Sabu.

"Well, if you don't have the dough, then get out." said the cashier.

"But..." protested Neteru.

"Out." shouted the cashier. Defeated, Neteru and Sabu left the building, repeating "Wasa-Wasa" as they did.

"You didn't get us tickets?" said Laura after Neteru and Sabu explained to the Ham-Hams that they don't have the money for tickets.

"Now what are we going to do?" asked Hamtaro.

"I have no idea." said Neteru. "Maxwell, do you have any ideas?"

"We could try working for the money," suggested Maxwell, "but that could take too long."

"Now what are we going to do?" asked Bijou.

"We're stuck here and there is no way to get to Halastia." said Moonbeam.

"Excuse me but did you guys say that you are going to Halastia?" said a voice from behind them. They all turned around to see a elderly looking hamster. At first glance, the hamster looked like Elder Ham because he had the same white beard and gray fur. But this ham-ham had a smaller beard and he didn't have large bushy eye brows or drooping ears. Upon his head was a white sailor's hat and he wore a blue coat.

"My name is Captain Brux and I over heard your dilemma and I think I can help." said the captain. "You see, I'm driving an empty cargo ship to Halastia so I can deliver some supplies from Halastia. Since the ship is going to be empty, it will have enough room to take you to Halastia."

"Really?" said Hamtaro. "That would be hamsterrific."

"Merci, Captain." said Bijou.

"However, I don't have enough money to pay for the food required for the trip." said the captain.

"That's okay, we brought our own food and if we ration it enough, it should be able to last the whole trip." said Neteru.

"Well that should help." said the captain. "Now, everyone please follow me and I can lead you to the ship."

The captain led the huge group of ham-hams through the docks, repeating "Chick-ah Chick-ah" as they did. The captain led them to a ship tied to the docks. The ship was large, old, and rusted but it still was sea worthy.

"What a disgusting looking boat." said Howdy. "Good thing we're not riding in it."

"Actually, you are, Howdy, because this is my ship." said the captain.

"What?" said Howdy. "You mean to tell me that we're going to sail all the way to Halastia in this floatible sardine can?"

"That's right and if you don't want to go, you don't have to go but bare in mind, without any money, you wont be able to leave here on a boat." said the captain.

"Come on, Howdy, I'm sure it's not as bad as it looks." said Pashmina. "Perhaps the interior is better looking."

"Oh, well, in that case, I'll go along." said Howdy in response to Pashmina.

"Great, I'll lead you all on board." said the captain. "Just follow me." The Ham-Hams all walked signal file up the ramps leading to the boat. Upon reaching the deck, they saw three, hamsters who were cleaning the deck. Both of the hamsters wore sailors' shirts and hats and they all had white fur with large brown spots on their bodies. The captain walked up to them and said, "Look alive men, we have some passengers that will be riding with us. Treat them respectfully."

"Yes, Captain." said the crew.

"Now prepare to shove off, we're going to Halastia." said the captain. The three hamsters all began to run about the ship, preparing the ship to set sail. The Ham-Hams all gathered around the railings of the ship and they all looked out as the ship was steered out of the docks. Hamtaro was right beside Bijou as the ship set sailed.

"This is so wonderful." said Bijou.

"This is certainly better than the last time we were on a ship." said Hamtaro. All the Ham-Hams watched the land behind them disappear as they sailed out to sea.

That evening, as the sun began to set in the distance causing the sky to turn bright orange, Boss leaned onto the railing with his head leaning over the edge. It had been only three hours since they had left the docks and Boss was beginning to feel sea sick. He just stood there, leaning over the railing and fighting back the urge to vomit. He wasn't alone for long when Travis walked up to Boss, looking as pale as him.

"What are you doing here?" asked Boss.

"I can get a little sea sick when I'm on a boat." said Travis. Travis leaned over the edge, struggling not to "toss his cookies."

"I tend to get sea sick myself." said Boss. "You're welcome to stay here."

"Thanks." said Travis queasily. It was then that Hamtaro, Laura, Bijou, and Neteru all came out of the cargo bay, where the others were, to look for Boss and Travis.

"Boss, Travis. Where are you?" they chorussed. They quickly noticed Boss and Travis leaning on the railing.

"Oh dear, they must be sea sick again." said Bijou. The four of them ran up to Boss and Travis, repeating "Badda-Badda" as they did. Upon approaching him, Laura began to rub Travis's back.

"Try my mom's 'look at the horizon' trick." suggested Laura.

"Does it work?" asked Boss.

"Only one way to find out and that is to try it." said Laura. The two sea sick rodents stared out at the horizon and they slowly began to feel a little better.

"So Travis has been sea sick before, right?" asked Neteru.

"Yes." answered Laura.

"That's interesting." said Neteru. "Apparently, even though Travis is in a new body, he still has to deal with some of the physical boundaries of his original body."

"Lucky me." said Travis sarcastically.

"I'll get ze captain, he might have some motion sickness pills." suggested Bijou.

"You do that." said Travis. Without another word, Bijou went off to find the captain, repeating "Wasa-Wasa" as she did.

Luckily, the captain did have some pills in his first aid kit and he gave them to Boss and Travis. The long journey continued throughout the day and the next day. The weather was relatively warm and calm so they faced no problems on the way to Halastia. The trip was fairly boring since there wasn't much to do. They managed to amuse themselves by listening to Maxwell or the captain tell stories or they would play indoor games such as Charades. On the morning of the third day of their trip, the Ham-Hams slept soundly in the cargo bay which was barren and empty with walls and floors made of pure steal. The Ham-Hams only had thin pads to sleep on so the whole thing was not very comfortable and the constant rocking of the ship didn't help much either. One of those few who was not sleeping well was Neteru. He was the first one to wake up that morning which surprised him since he was always a heavy sleeper, even before he was put under that sleeping spell. Believing that he was not going to be able to get anymore sleep, Neteru silently slipped out of bed and walked up the stairs and into the open air on the deck of the ship, repeating "Chick-ah Chick-ah" the whole time. Neteru breathed in deeply, taking in the salty sea air. As he turned his attention to the front of the ship, he noticed, to his surprise, an island in the distance. Neteru walked up to the front of the ship (repeating Ticky-Ticky) and leaned against the railing on the tip of the ship and looked out on the island before him.

"Halastia, here we come." said Neteru with a smile as he admired Halastia in the distance.


	6. A Piece of Information

Journey to the Island of Halastia

Chapter 6: A "Piece" of Information

Neteru woke everyone inside the cargo bay and they all ran up to the front of the ship, repeating "Badda-Badda" as they did. Upon reaching the front of the ship, everyone looked out upon the island as it drew closer to them. The island was certainly large by hamster standards. What was also noticeable was the small town that was built along the shore of the island. The experience was like traveling by boat to New York City except without the Statue of Liberty and the tall sky scrapers. Curious about the city, Hamtaro asked Sabu, "Is that Zolphville?"

"It sure is." said Sabu. "One of the many cities that make up Halastia and it has the most busiest sea port than any other city in Halastia."

"Why is that?" asked Pashmina.

"The majority of ham-hams who leave or enter Halastia travel by boat." explained Sabu. "And the majority of visitors who come to Halastia are from Japan and Zolphville just so happens to be facing Japan."

"Also, Zolphville is were nearly all of the major import and export sites are located in Halastia." said the captain as he walked up to them.

"Hey Captain, thanks for giving us the ride." said Hamtaro.

"Yes, thank you." chorussed the other Ham-Hams.

"No problem." said the captain. "I was happy to do it. By the way, if you don't mind me saying so, why are all of you going to Halastia, anyway?"

"We need to see my cousin, Daruth." explained Sabu. "He lives in Zolphville."

"Is that so?" said the captain. "How long has he lived in Zolphville?"

"About three years." said Sabu. "Daruth and I were born and raised in the city called Spark, another one of the cities in Halastia."

"Were you and Daruth close?" asked Hamtaro as he and the other Ham-Hams began to eavesdrop.

"Yes actually." said Sabu. "We were like best friends. Infact, people often mistaken us for brothers."

"Interesting." said the captain. Upon realizing how close they were getting to the city, the captain said, "Oh, I need to get back to the control room. We will be reaching Halastia in about thirty minutes so pack up."

"Yes, captain." said Neteru. Neteru and the other Ham-Hams all headed back to the cargo bay so they could pack, repeating "Ticky-Ticky" along the way there.

Down in the dark and damp cargo bay, the Ham-Hams began to pack their bags, relieved that they were finally going to get off the boat.

"So Sabu, any idea as to what artifact Glabrezu is after?" asked Boss.

"I have no idea." said Sabu. "Daruth always had an interest in archaeology which is why he moved to Zolphville to work for the Halastia Museum. He keeps all sorts of artifacts in his home but what kind of artifacts he has is a mystery to me. Of-course, it has been a long time since the last time I saw Daruth. Who knows what he could have obtained since then."

"Whatever it is that Glabrezu is after, we must focus on catching him, not protecting the artifact." said Neteru. "Remember, our goal is to retrieve that magical stone that Glabrezu has so we can change everyone in town back to normal."

"But if Glabrezu wants it that badly, there must be something sinister about the artifact." said Mara. "Lives could be lost if he were to obtain it."

"Just because Glabrezu is a demon, doesn't mean that he intends on using it to cause harm." said Neteru. "But you are right, Mara. Odds are, Glabrezu is planning something sinister. However, we don't know what it is that Glabrezu is after. All we assume is that Daruth has what Glabrezu wants." From the top of the stairs, the captain called out, "We will be reaching Halastia any minute now so everyone please head back to the docks."

"You heard the man." said Sandy. "Lets get up there so we can get off of this boat."

"But I haven't finished packing." said Stan as he struggled to fit his portable sleeping mat into his back pack.

"Fine, I'll help you with that." said Sandy helping her brother. Once everyone finished packing and closed their back packs, Neteru and the other Ham-hams all put on their back packs and climbed up the stairs leading out of the cargo bay, repeating "Wasa-Wasa" as they did.

The Ham-Hams all watched as the ship began to park itself next to the docks. Just like the docks they had come from, this dock too also had shops, ships, and hamsters but in much more larger quantities. Laura and the former humans were overwhelmed by the sight of all these hamsters who were on their way to the their boats or shopping at all the shops. It was certainly very crowded and full of activity. The Ham-hams all were aloud off the boat after it had been tied down. A long board was used as a bridge to allow the Ham-Hams to step off the ship and onto the dock, surprising themselves with the sudden stillness of the ground. Even though they had only been out at sea for three days, the feeling of being on stable ground felt rather disorienting.

"I guess I don't have my land legs yet." said Hamtaro.

"A little walk should fix that." said Sabu. "Just follow me and I'll lead you guys to my cousin's house."

"Oh no, not more walking." whined Oxnard.

"It can't be that bad, can it?" asked Maxwell.

"It will become a long walk but we can handle it." said Sabu. "Come one, we need to get to Daruth." With a groan from Oxnard, they all began the long walk to Daruth's house.

Upon leaving the docks and entering the city, Laura and the other former humans began to realize how different Halastia was from Rokugon. Rokugon looked like a combination of an agricultural farm land and a seventeenth or sixteenth century town, at least in the part of the city they had seen. The city called Zolphville was little different from Rokugon but Zolphville looked more like a modern city. Instead of having the dirt roads that Rokugon had, it had paved roads that looked like miniature versions of human roads. There were also some cars on that road, something you would rarely see in Rokugon. None of the hamster-size cars ran on gas, however. They mostly ran on manual peddling (like the ones on the Ham-Ham Train) or by electricity and they came in many different varieties and sizes. Unlike Rokugon, there were also more modern looking houses and other technological advances such as stop lights, pay phones, and street lights. But perhaps the most stunning technological achievement of this city was it's public transportation. Zolphville possessed public transportation in the form of trains. The trains resembled those above-ground trains you see in San Francisco and just like in San Francisco, they ran along tracks built right into the road. The trains themselves looked more like basic trollies with rows of seats and no roof. Laura wanted to ride the little trains instead of walking but since they had no money, they could not ride the trains. Like in Rokugon, there were hamsters everywhere and while the majority of them were nude, some did wear hats or scarfs or any small pieces of clothing. Only a few wore more covering pieces of clothing such as pants, vests, shirts, skirts, etc. So far, they hadn't seen a ham-ham who was fully clothed.

They all walked along the sidewalks of the city, repeating "Wasa-Wasa" tiredly from all the walking.

"Aren't we there yet?" whined Howdy. "We've been walking for so long that I've got blisters on my blisters."

"Yeah, and I'm starving to death." complained Oxnard.

"Will you two quit your belly ache'n." said Dexter.

"Don't worry, guys, we're almost there." said Sabu. The Ham-Hams followed single file behind Sabu as he led them to a large house that was on the side of a hill. The house was painted bright green and it had a certain old fashioned elegance to it.

"This is it, the home of my cousin, Daruth." said Sabu. "I'll go knock on the door to let him know where here." The Ham-Hams all gathered at the foot of the steps leading to the front door. They watched as Sabu climbed up the steps to the door and rang the door bell. A minute later, the door was opened and they were greeted by the sight of a short hamster with large light brown spots all over his white fur. The ham-ham wore a large thick pare of glasses and a small gray vest. The large glasses caused the hamster's eyes to become larger than they really are, giving him that owl-like appearance.

"Cousin Sabu?" asked the hamster surprised. "Is that you?"

"Daruth, nice to see you again, cuz." said Sabu.

"It's great to see you too." said Daruth shaking Sabu's paw. "It has been a long time since you've come to visit. How's Francoise doing?"

"She's fine." said Sabu. "Oh Daruth, I've brought some friends of mine with me." Daruth immediately looked behind Sabu and noticed the large group of ham-hams behind him.

"Are they the friends you were talking about?" asked Daruth.

"Yep and they all came here." said Sabu. "I hope you don't mind." From the look on Daruth's stunned face, Neteru could tell that he did mind but none the less, he said, "Okay, Sabu, but will they cause any trouble."

"We wont cause too much trouble." said Hamtaro. "We promise."

"Well..." said Daruth uncertainly. "Okay, you guys can come in." Daruth stepped aside as everyone began to crowd into the building.

As they walked in, Sabu said to Daruth, "Let me introduce to you my friends." One by one, Sabu told Daruth the name of every Ham-Ham who walked in. "There's Hamtaro, Bijou, Laura, Oxnard, Kana, Boss, Pashmina, Penelope, June, Kylie, Howdy, Dexter, Travis, Sandy, Stan, Maxwell, Roberto, Cappy, Moonbeam, Panda, Neteru, Mara, and Terra." Daruth was surprised to see Terra since he had never seen a hedgehog before and it is rare to find an animal other than a ham-ham in a ham-ham dominated city. Everyone crowded into the living room which was decorated with ancient artifacts from hamster ancestors, including tribal masks, vases, small statues, ancient weapons, etc.

"Wow, what a collection you've got here." complemented Boss.

"Yes, each of these artifacts are very priceless so please do not touch anything." said Daruth. At that moment, Penelope noticed a beautiful blue vase nearby.

"Oh wow." said Penelope. She ran over to the vase and tried to pull it off the small podium it was on, saying "Grooba" as she did, but the vase was too heavy for Penelope and almost immediately, she began to tip over.

"Oh no, Penelope." said Pashmina upon seeing the vase in Penelope's paws. Boss immediately grabbed the vase as Penelope lost her grip, saving it from falling onto the ground and breaking, and Boss placed the vase back onto the counter. Daruth was not happy about seeing his vase so close to being broken.

"I said 'don't touch anything." shouted Daruth.

"Sorrwie." said Penelope with guilt about what she had done.

"Now Sabu, this is too much." said Daruth angrily.

"I'm sorry I brought so many here." said Sabu. "But this is an emergency."

"Emergency?" asked Daruth. Sabu was about to explain but then he was interrupted by a female voice from up stairs who said, "Daruth, what is all that shouting for?" Everyone turned their attention to the top of the stairs. There they saw a female hamster staring down upon them. Curious, she walked down the stairs towards the Ham-Hams. She was a young hamster with some light brown fur on her head and white on the rest of her body. On top of her head was a red barrette tied onto a small collection of fur strands. Another hamster, a male one, came up to the stairs in curiosity and he noticed the ham-hams below and decided to come down and find out who they are. Half of his face was light brown and the rest of him was white. The only thing he wore was a turtle shell that was strapped to his back.

The two hamsters walked down the stairs and examined the Ham-Hams.

"Who are they?" asked Sabu to Daruth.

"They're my roommates." explained Daruth.

"Roommates, huh." said Boss. Daruth was about to introduce to the Ham-Hams his roommates but he didn't have a chance when Stan wasted no time in introducing himself first. Stan ran over to the female ham-ham and said, "Hello, gorgeous, I'm Stan and I'm going to read some poetry for you. 'You're as beautiful as a sun flower, baby, and you smell just as sweet. You're a wonderful ham-ham girl and you look good enough to eat.'" The girl blushed from the sudden string of complements. She began to rub her head with her paws, repeating "Kushi-Kushi" as she did.

"What's your name, beautiful?" asked Stan.

"I'm Barrette." said the ham-girl. She then pointed towards the male hamster and said, "And this is my boyfriend, Seamore." Upon hearing that the other hamster was her boyfriend, Stan looked up at Seamore and realized that Seamore was giving him a nasty stare that indicated that he was not happy about the way Stan was flirting at his girlfriend. Stan quickly backed away from Barrette. Lucky for Stan, Seamore was not the type who can easily become jealous, or violent.

"So who are you guys, anyway?" asked Seamore, taking his attention away from Stan.

"We're the Ham-Hams." said Hamtaro. "We all came here with Sabu."

"When did you guys move in?" asked Sabu.

"Seamore and I own a photo shop down town." said Barrette. "We didn't have the money to buy a house of our own yet so Daruth offered to allow us to stay here until we have the money to buy our own house."

"That's nice of you, cuz." said Sabu to Daruth.

"So anyway, why are you guys here to look at Daruth's artifacts?" asked Seamore.

"How did you know that?" asked Neteru.

"Barrette and I over heard you." explained Seamore.

"Oh, well, the reason why we're here is because everyone in our town has been turned to stone by a demon named Glabrezu." said Neteru. Neteru expected the reaction to this statement to be one of disbelief or confusion. He didn't anticipate what happened next. Barrette screamed in terror and fainted backwards into Seamore's arms, frightened upon hearing the name "Glabrezu."

"What's wrong, Barrette?" asked Mara.

"Did you say you have met Glabrezu before?" asked Barrette shakily.

"Yes, why do you ask?" asked Mara.

"We've met Glabrezu before." admitted Seamore.

"You have?" asked Mara in surprise. Barrette nodded her head. There was a silence amongst the Ham-Hams as they realized that Glabrezu has terrorized others.

"So you say that this 'demon' has changed everyone to stone?" said Daruth changing the subject.

"Yes, with a magical stone and we think that Glabrezu is here and if so, then so is the stone." said Moonbeam.

"But why do you think Glabrezu wants to come here for?" asked Daruth.

"Because we found this." said Neteru. He pulled out the map from his back pack and gave it to Daruth. Daruth looked at the map and was surprised to see the red writing on it. "Because the map had your name on it, we figured that you must be the one Glabrezu is after."

"But how do you know it is me?" asked Daruth. "Zolphville has a population of over 4,000. There could be more than one Daruth here."

"Heke!" chorussed the Ham-Hams.

"You mean we came all this way for nothing?" said Howdy.

"Now now, Howdy." said Terra. "There is still a chance that we have the right Daruth."

"So you guys came all this way because you think Glabrezu will come here to steal one of my artifacts?" asked Daruth.

"Yes." said Neteru. "We figured we could catch him in the act so we could steal that stone he had used to turn everyone into stone. Could you take us to see your artifacts?"

"Okay, I'll take you upstairs and show you my collection." said Daruth.

Daruth led Neteru, Mara, Terra, and Moonbeam up into his "collection room" and Seamore and Barrette followed them. The room was like an attic with lots of dust covered objects and supplies. Most of it was in boxes but some of it were on shelves or hanging on the walls.

"I doubt we can figure out what Glabrezu is after by searching through a bunch of boxes." said Terra.

"He's most likely after something magical." said Neteru. "That's one way of narrowing it down."

"But that might not also be the issue as well." said Terra. As they continued to discuss what to do, Moonbeam noticed that Barrette still looked a bit shaken up by the mentioning of Glabrezu.

"Barrette, do you mind telling us how you met Glabrezu?" asked Moonbeam. Barrette just looked up at Moonbean questioningly but decided to tell them.

"About a year ago, Glabrezu kidnapped me and held me hostage." said Barrette. "He then tortured me, trying to get me to talk and when he was finally convince that I had no information that was a value to him, he released me." Tears began to well up in Barrette's eyes as she remembered that day.

"What was Glabrezu after?" asked Mara.

"He said that he thought that I had something called 'The Giga Stone." said Barrette. Upon hearing the name, Moonbeam's mouth dropped open and Neteru and Mara were also concerned as well. The same thought ran through their minds as they realized what this meant: Glabrezu was after the Giga Stone. The Giga Stone was created by the Ham-Ham Goddess named Neanna. She created the stone to allow her to guide the planet's evolution. The Giga Stone is so powerful that if anyone gets their hands on it, they could have the power to create or destroy anything on Earth. The magic of the stone radiates powerful magical energies that can be easily detected. To conceal the stone's power so it wont be found by evil forces, it was decided to use magic to place the stone inside someone in order to hide its magic from detection. After Moonbeam's entire family was murdered, she volunteered to allow Neteru to cast the spell that will hide the stone within her. After hearing Barrette's story, they went back to work, searching through all the artifacts, hoping to figure out what Glabrezu was after. All the while, Moonbeam kept a paw to her chest, knowing the even now, that magical artifact was still inside her and if Glabrezu found out, she would be put in the same position as Barrette.

Daruth showed them all the magical artifacts he had. From recently made nik naks to ancient magical tools, they searched through boxes of them and although some are very valuable, none of them seemed useful to a demon. As Daruth pulled out all of these artifacts from the boxes, he laid them out all over the floor. Neteru was becoming frustrated and he was beginning to believe that they were wasting their time. Terra was also beginning to think the same thing until she placed her paw onto a nearby box and she suddenly felt the presence of a strong psychic force that was calling her. Curious, Terra opened the box and there, on top of some old artifacts, was a strange looking piece of gold. The piece was in the shape of a pizza slice and it was almost an inch long which, to a hamster or a hedgehog, was really large. The piece was flat and and thick and at the pointy tip of the piece, Terra could see a raised bar of some kind.

"Daruth, what is this?" asked Terra. Daruth was in the middle of showing Neteru a magic sword when he heard Terra talking.

"That's a Caidoz piece." said Daruth.

"Caidoz?" asked Terra.

"Yes, one of twelve identical pieces." explained Daruth. "They are located in various areas and I just so happen to have one."

"What do they do?" asked Moonbeam.

"No one knows." said Daruth. "Who made the Caidoz pieces, how long ago they were made, and where they come from is all one big mystery. Some sorcerers and psions have tried to find some form of psionic or magical feature about them but they just can't seem to unlock their power. However, according to legend, it is said that the pieces are designed to come together and form one large wheel. However, many ham-hams have tried to put the pieces together but all have failed because the pieces have no way of attaching to each other despite how well the fit together."

"Neteru, do you think Glabrezu might be after this?" asked Terra.

"What do you think?" asked Neteru.

"My psionic senses tell me that Glabrezu is after this." said Terra.

"And that is what I think too." said Neteru. "If your hunch is right, then Glabrezu might be going after the other eleven pieces as well. Perhaps he knows how to put the pieces together and he knows what they are capable of."

"But we don't know that for sure." said Moonbeam.

"That may be true but since we have no other alternatives, we might have to depend on our powers." said Neteru. "And there is one way we can test if the piece really is what Glabrezu is after."


	7. A Lover's Spat

Journey to the Island of Halastia

Chapter 7: A Lover's Spat

That night, the Ham-Hams ended up sleeping on the floor of the living room. Just like on the ship, they were not in the most comfortable positions to be sleeping in and they all had some restless sleep that night. As everyone slept soundly, there was one in the household who was not asleep. Through an open window that was located in the collection room, a prowler snuck into the house. His dark and mysterious form quietly sneaked through the room, searching for the wanted artifact. He quietly ran his paw along the boxes, trying to feel any form of energy from them. As his paw landed on one particular box, he felt an intense power from the box. Without hesitation, he opened the box and right at the top of the pile of items was the Caidoz piece. Its sparkly and golden metal gleaming in the moonlight. With an evil grin, the prowler picked up the piece into his paws and once he did, the lights immediately came on and Neteru, Mara, Moonbeam, and Terra all jumped out of the boxes they were hiding in and the three of them surrounded the intruder. Neteru knew that there would come a time where someone would come and steal the Caidoz piece and Neteru and his friends had been hiding in the shadows in order to catch the crook in the act. They held out their staffs (except for Terra since she didn't have one) and Neteru said, "Alright, Glabrezu. We have you surrounded." The prowler just stood there, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the sudden change of lighting. Once Neteru's eyes also adjusted, he quickly realized that it was not Glabrezu who stood before them. This hamster had some unusual looking fur coloration. Almost his entire head was completely gray and his lower body was gray also and the rest of him was white. He wore a black hat with two antennas on top and in his left paw was a black pitch fork and in his right was the Caidoz piece. On his back, Neteru could see that the ham-ham had long black bat wings. Around his neck was a pentacle, just like the one Glabrezu wears, but it was right-side up.

This strange looking ham-ham looked at them curiously, wondering what he should do next.

"Well this is certainly unusual." said the ham-ham. "I had no idea that you were there. I really should be more alter next time I try to steal." The ham-ham seemed very calm despite his present circumstances. "Just who are you people anyway?"

"I am a sorcerer named Neteru." said Neteru. "I have battled with some of the worst fiends of this world and I am here to protect that artifact." Neteru deliberately left out the fact that he was after Glabrezu, incase this guy worked for him.

"Pfpth, you're nothing but a loud of talk." said the ham-ham.

"Just who are you and why are you here?" demanded Mara.

"If you must know, I am known as Spat." said the ham-ham. "As for why I want the Caidoz piece, that is my own business."

"Well, we're making it our own business." said Moonbeam. "Now hand over that piece."

"Do you really think you have the guts to strike me down?" asked Spat mockingly. "Don't make me laugh, pfpth."

"_Rista kweesta_." shouted Mara and from her staff, a beam of shimmering orange light shot from her staff but Spat immediately opened his bat like wings and took off into the air, avoiding the blast. He clung to the ceiling and then he crawled along it like Spider-Man. With the intent on catching Spat, Terra used her psionic powers to telekinetically grab Spat and pull him to the ground. Spat could not resist Terra's telekinetics so he lost his grip and fell to the ground and landed hard on his back.

"Fancy that, I've never combated a hedgehog before." said Spat.

"I'll see to it that it will be your last." said Terra.

"Not unless I beat you to it." said Spat. With that said, Spat immediately leaped back onto his feet and before Terra could hold him down with her telekinetics, Spat immediately thrusted his pitch fork towards them and shouted, "_Zulock_." From the three prongs on his pitch fork, a beam of orange light struck the four heroes and they fell to the ground, held down by the force of the spell.

"I can't move." said Moonbeam as she tried to resist the spell. The spell left them as stiff as a board, holding them to the ground. As they struggled, Spat know he had to get out of here before Terra uses her telekinetics. He opened his bat like wings and immediately flew towards the open window.

"Thanks for all the fun." said Spat mockingly. He flew out of the open window with the Caidoz piece still in his paws.

Hamtaro, Boss, Daruth, Barrette, and Seamore all ran into the room (repeating "Ticky-Ticky") to find Neteru and the others attached to the floor.

"Neteru, are you guys all right?" asked Hamtaro as he ran over to their side.

"My goodness, what happened here?" asked Daruth.

"Was Glabrezu here?" asked Barrette fearfully. Neteru could barley move but they felt the spell quickly ware off. Once they could finally move again, Boss asked, "What happened here?"

"Some ham-ham came in here and took the Caidoz piece." explained Terra.

"He what?!" said Daruth. He ran over to the box where the Caidoz piece was kept and when he opened the box, he cried out in disappointment once he his fears were confirmed. "I don't believe this."

"Was it Glabrezu?" asked Seamore.

"No." said Mara. "It was some strange looking ham-ham named Spat."

"Spat?" said Boss. "What kind of a name is Spat?"

"Have any of you guys heard of him?" asked Neteru. The Ham-Hams shook their heads, indicating "no."

"Why was he the one stealing the Caidoz piece?" asked Daruth.

"I don't know." admitted Neteru.

"He could be working for Glabrezu." suggested Terra.

"Perhaps but either way, we might have already missed our chance to kidnap Glabrezu." said Neteru glumly. There was a heavy silence in the room after that was said, as everyone realized the terrible truth.

"What are we going to do know?" asked Hamtaro.

"I don't know, Hamtaro." said Neteru sadly. "I just don't know..."

And speak of the devil (pun intended), Glabrezu waited inside an abandoned building, waiting for his partner to arrive. The old building was dusty and dirty with some worn out furniture and chairs inside. Glabrezu didn't know what the building was used for or why it wasn't torn down but all he knew for sure was that it was currently disowned and the perfect place to hide.

"What's taking Spat so long?" demanded Glabrezu. "He's late." As he waited Spat, Spat himself was outside flying high over the city. From high in the sky, Zolphville looked like any ordinary city at night with the glowing lights of homes and buildings. Spat kept his eyes on the roads below, searching for the building where he was supposed to meet Glabrezu. He saw it from the sky with his supernatural nightvision and he dove down towards it. Seeing the open window as he got closer, flew through it and landed right next to Glabrezu.

"Where have you been?" demanded Glabrezu.

"I ran into some resistance." said Spat. "Apparently, someone knew I was going to be there and they set a trap."

"You probably just aloud yourself to be seen." said Glabrezu angrily. "If you hadn't had taken days to find Daruth in the first place, I wouldn't have had to wait this long."

"Well if you hadn't had lost the map, I would have found it sooner, pfpth." interjected Spat. "And as for why I had ran into opposition during the process of obtaining the piece, I have no idea how Neteru knew I was coming but I'm sure that..."

"Wait a minute." interrupted Glabrezu. "Did you say 'Neteru?"

"Yes." replied Spat. "One of the ham-hams who challenged me said his name was 'Neteru.' Why do you ask?"

"Neteru was that sorcerer ham-ham who challenged me back a the town." explained Glabrezu.

"Really?" asked Spat. "What happened?"

"I used the magic stone I had found in Ankorbak to turn everyone in the town into stone." explained Glabrezu. "I knew that the possessor of the Giga Stone was in that town and I had changed everyone into stone so that no one would resist me. However, I did not anticipate that the stone's magic does not affect ham-hams and Neteru and his friends tried to take the stone away from me."

"But if this happened all the way in Japan, what is he doing here?" asked Spat

"He must have found the map I had lost and figured I'd be here." said Glabrezu. "If Neteru is here, then possibly the one who has the Giga Stone must be here also."

"But how will will we know who has the Giga stone?" asked Spat.

"I don't know the identity of the possessor but I do know that the stone is hidden within the body of a female ham-ham through the use of a Merge Spell." explained Glabrezu. "Before you leave to Rokugon, I want you to kidnap as many female ham-hams accompanying Neteru as you can and find out if they have the stone."

"Are you sure that our master needs the Giga Stone?" asked Spat. "He is so powerful already."

"That is true but without the stone, Bocka will not be able to shape this planet into his own image." said Glabrezu. "Our master, Bocka, needs the Giga Stone as well as the twelve Caidoz pieces. Once you have kidnaped the girls and found the stone, then go to Rokugon and obtain the second piece. Unless you are incompetent enough to screw that task up as well."

"Don't call me a screw up." snapped Spat. "I'll get those pieces for Bocka. I have sworn my allegiance to him and I'll do what he commands, pfpth."

"Excellent." said Glabrezu. "Now do as you're told."

"But wait a minute, what are you going to be doing?" asked Spat.

"I have other services I must perform for Bocka." said Glabrezu. "Just focus on stealing the Caidoz pieces."

"Yes sir." said Spat. "I'm on my way." Without another word, Spat opened his bat-like wings and then he took off through the open window and into the night sky. Glabrezu looked on as Spat flew off.

"Bocka will be pleased once he sees what I intend on giving to him." said Glabrezu. He laughed evilly as he used his powers to teleport out of the building.

Neteru felt bad about how he had failed to keep the Caidoz piece safe so, to cheer her boyfriend up, Mara suggested that they go somewhere to relax and think of a plan. Daruth suggested they go to the city park because it was the one place he would go to in order to relax. Deciding that perhaps they do need to relax think the current situation through, Neteru agreed to accompany the Ham-Hams as they went to the park to blow off a little steam. The park was very different than the park back home because of the fact that it had no trees and the grass was large. Zolphville was so well proportioned to the ham-hams' body size that Laura and the other former humans completely forgot that they are still less than half of a foot tall. Instead of trees, the park did have some flowers which towered over the Ham-Hams like trees. Neteru, Moonbeam, Mara, and Terra sat at a park bench, trying to come up with ideas as to how they were going to find out where Spat was. Neteru resorted to his meditations, quietly chanting to himself in hopes of getting some kind of sign that will indicate what he needs to know but divination has not been Neteru's strongest attribute. Mara also tried mediations but she was also getting nothing. Moonbeam was not yet advanced enough to perform divinations like that so she instead helped Terra. Terra resorted to her tarot cards which she had brought with her to this trip. She had laid out a tarot cloth on her lap and she began to flip through the cards, hoping to decipher some hint as to where they can find Spat. So far, they have found none.

Meanwhile, the others were out trying to burn off a bit of steam, despite the fact that their chances of saving the town has dramatically dropped. The boys tried to play a game of soccer. Although Roberto was still a bit grumpy when he heard about what happened last night, he couldn't resist the offering of a soccer game. They didn't have any goals or a soccer ball so they relied on an acorn for a ball and they simply kicked it around. The boys were roughhousing around with that ball and now that Roberto was playing the game, his old "show-off "self had returned. Daruth also came to play but he was not in the best shape in the world so he didn't do too well. As the boys enjoyed a rigorous soccer game, the girls (Sandy, Pashmina, Penelope, Laura, Kana, June, Kylie, and Bijou) all gathered in a circle and they were engaged in a little jewelry making. Using some of the natural supplies they had and some of the ribbons and beads Bijou had brought, they were working on making bracelets, necklaces, and head bands. Penelope was working on a wrist band she was trying to make using some string and a blade of grass. The blade of grass was much too big for her and the grass ended up too big for her wrist.

"Ookwee." cried Penelope out of frustration.

"Calm down, Penelope." said Pashmina. "Here, let me help you." Pashmina pulled out some string and began to help Penelope make a smaller bracelet. Laura and the other former humans were having troubles because they were not yet used to their new bodies. Although their paws were little different than their human hands, the paws were none the less different to the girls because of how small they were. Their fur covered bodies was also a distraction. Still, they continued on with their game and they were even enjoying themselves in the process.

However, the girls were completely oblivious to the strange figure who was watching them. Hiding behind a thick brush of flowers was Spat who watched them evilly.

"One of these girls must have the Giga Stone." said Spat to himself. "I'll capture them and that stone will go strait to Bocka." He quickly checked to make sure that Neteru wasn't around. Once satisfied that Neteru was not nearby, he pulled out a long rope that glowed a golden light. He tied the rope into a lasso and then he began to twirl it around like a cowboy. He threw the glowing lasso through the flowers and the rope immediately strong itself around the six girls. The lasso tightened and they were immediately bounded together.

"Hey, what's going on here?" demanded Sandy.

"Zis eez not very comfortable." said Bijou.

"Ookwee, ookwee, help." said Penelope. The girls struggled against the rope but there was some kind of magical quality about the rope that held them together.

"You ladies are going on a little trip." said Spat as he came out of hiding.

"Oh no, it's Spat." cried Pashmina. "Help, we're being kidnapped." Upon hearing the girls' cry for help, the Ham-Hams ran to their rescue, repeating "Badda-Badda" as they did. Spat saw them coming and he immediately placed a paw onto the knot that held up the lasso's form. He began to speak the incantation, "_Vockna ve vono monia mana_..." Realizing that Spat was going to cast a spell, Neteru shouted, "_Hogna vana_." From his paws, a fire ball shot forwards. Spat was finishing his incantation at the same time, "..._vela doona_." With the spell complete, Spat immediately teleported away and he took the imprisoned girls with him, leaving the fire ball to sail harmlessly past the spot where he had stood. Everyone stopped in front of where the girls were originally sitting and they were dumbfounded.

"Oh no. Laura." said Hamtaro. "We got to save them."

"How dare he take Bijou." said Boss. "I'll rescue rescue her, no matter what it takes. I just hope she is okay."

"When I get my hands on Spat, I'm going to brake his neck in two." said Howdy.

"I'll do that too, after I have saved Pashmina." said Dexter slyly.

"Well so will I." said Howdy.

"Quite!" shouted Neteru, silencing the arguments. "I realize that you're all upset but we don't know where Spat has taken the girls."

"How can we possibly figure out where he has taken the girls?" asked Daruth. There was a silence as everyone frantically tried to come up with some kind of suggestion and Terra was the one to do it.

"We could try my tarot cards again." suggested Terra.

"Hamtastic idea." said Hamtaro. "Hurry up and read those cards."

"Okay okay, I'll get started." said Terra. Everyone gathered around Terra, waiting for her to make her prediction.

Terra sat down on the ground and pulled out a large tarot cloth. She then began to shuffle and arrange the deck in a way that was required for the ritual. Terra then began to lay out six cards, one for every word in the sentence, "Where is Spat taking the girls?" Focusing on the question in her mind, Terra laid out the cards and once all six cards were laid down, she looked at the letters that were written on each of the cards. The letters were in the following order from left to right: R, blank, U, K, G, blank. Now, the task was for Terra to try and put together the letters in a format that would spell a word. The blanks (or cards with no letters) can form any letters known, providing more varieties to what letters could be spelled. Terra studied the cards carefully, rearranging the letters and trying to make a word out of them. As she studied the letters on the tarot cards, she noticed that the organization of the letters seemed very familiar. She experimented by switching the "K" and the "U" around and then she imagined that the first blank space was an "O," making the formation (in her mind) "R, O, K, U, G, blank." It was then that she realized that if she makes the last blank an "O," it would spell the name "Rokugon" without the "N" at the end.

"Rokugon." announced Terra. "Spat must be going to Rokugon."

"Rokugon?" asked Daruth. "That's all the way back in Japan and it is a very large place."

"We can still find Spat there." said Mara. "Bare in mind, Soshi and Topaz lives there so we can ask them for help."

"But what about Glabrezu?" asked Roberto. "Remember, we still have to catch him too."

"He's right." said Neteru. "Perhaps Terra's tarot cards can give use a clue."

"I'll try." said Terra. She began to shuffle the cards again and then she drew five cards, one for each word in the question "How do I find Glabrezu?" As before, she took the letters written on the cards and then she experimented with what words they can form until she spelt "B-A-R-E-T."

"Barrette." announced Terra. "The cards say that Barrette may know how to find Glabrezu."

"Heke?" said Hamtaro in confusion. "But how can Barrette know where Glabrezu is?"

"We should ask her." said Daruth. "She and Seamore is still back at the house."

"Okay, lets ask them." said Neteru.

"And hurry, Bijou is bound to be frightened out of her mind." said Boss. They all turned around and then they ran back to the house, repeating "Badda-Badda" as they did.

The Ham-Hams ran into the house and up the stairs to Barrette and Seamore's bedroom. Daruth, Mara and Neteru went inside the bedroom to question the two of them while everyone else waited outside the door leading to the room. Seamore and Barrette were busy cleaning their bedroom when Daruth, Neteru, and Mara came in.

"You certainly haven't been gone for very long." commented Barrette jokingly.

"What are you guys doing here?" asked Seamore.

"Spat has kidnapped the girls." said Neteru. Barrette gasped. "We believe that Spat has taken the girls to Rokugon and now we need to follow Spat to save the girls and we also need to continue our pursuit of Glabrezu. We believe that you may know how we can find Glabrezu."

"Well, after Glabrezu kidnapped me, we tried to look for him so we could some how catch him." explained Barrette. "However, all we've been able to find out is that he hangs out at an island not far from here."

"Can you tell us were this island is?" asked Neteru.

"Certainly, if you're going after Glabrezu." said Barrette. She turned to her boyfriend and asked, "Seamore, do you have the map?"

"Sure, it is right here in the drawer." said Seamore. Seamore dug through a nearby drawer, groping around through the drawer in search for a piece of paper that had the location of where Glabrezu was. He pulled out a rolled up piece of paper from the drawer and carried it to Neteru. Seamore unrolled the paper and revealed that it was a map of the ocean surrounding Halastia. There was three other island on the map besides Halastia and one of those islands was circled in red ink.

"A captain said that he's seen Glabrezu on that island and twice Glabrezu had terrorized her ship while it was passing the island." said Seamore. "We tried to find someone who can stop this by but no one would help us. You guys may be our only hope. I do hope you can catch this guy before he can cause any harm to anyone."

"We wont let you down." said Mara.

"But how are we going to reach both a far off island and Rokugon at the same time?" asked Neteru.

"Neteru, why don't we split up." said Mara. "One side will go out and try to save the girls while the rest go after Glabrezu."

"Can we possibly arrange for such a thing?" asked Neteru.

"I can offer money to pay for a ride back to Rokugon." suggested Daruth. "As for Glabrezu, Sabu and I can fly you there using our personal zeppelin."

"I don't know about this." said Neteru.

"Come on, Neteru." said Mara. "The girls' lives are at stake." Neteru looked into Mara's determined eyes and finally gave in.

"Okay Mara." he said. "Lets do it."

_Author's note: Incase you are wondering, the characters Seamore, Barrette, and Spat did come from the video game called "Hamtaro: Ham-Ham Heartbreak." And in case there is some confusion about Spat's pentacle, the pentacle around Spat's neck did not come from the game. It is something I fabricated for him to wear._


	8. The Dividing

Journey to the Island of Halastia

Chapter 8: The Dividing

Now that the girls have been kidnapped, the situation has become even more dire. After carefully planning out their strategy, they agreed to send one team to go after Spat and the girls while another team will go after Glabrezu. The team that will go after Spat and the girls will include Boss, Maxwell, Stan, Hamtaro, Howdy, Dexter, Travis, Cappy, Panda, Oxnard, and Roberto. This team will take a ship back to Japan using the money Daruth loaned them and then they will go to Rokugon where Spat, presumably, is located. The other team, which includes Terra, Neteru, Mara, and Moonbeam, will take Daruth and Sabu's zeppelin to the island where Glabrezu has been hiding. There were mixed feelings as they all went their separate ways but despite their situation, they knew they had a duty to fulfill and they had to be strong because so much depended on them.

Terra, Neteru, Mara, and Moonbeam all wore their back packs as they followed Daruth and Sabu to the air port where their zeppelin was kept. This time, they got to take those public transportation trains to the air port (as mentioned in chapter six). Once the train stopped by the air port, they all stepped out of it and walked over to the front gates leading to the air port, repeating "Wasa-Wasa" as they did.

"Where did you guys get a zeppelin?" asked Moonbeam.

"We actually built it ourselves." said Daruth as he placed his access key into the card key slot located by the fence. Once the device accepted the key, there was an electrical buzz as the gate opened automatically.

"You made the zeppelin?" asked Neteru.

"Yes." said Sabu. "Daruth and I built it shortly before I moved out of Halastia. We used it to visit the other islands around Halastia and we even got to see parts of Asia and Australia but eventually we stopped using it once I moved."

"Is it still capable of flying?" asked Terra.

"It depends if you don't pop it with your quills." said Sabu jokingly.

"Haha, very funny." said Terra zeppelin that stood on its own parking space. The zeppelin itself was built with a very crude design. The balloon on top was made with a brownish cloth that was inflated with helium and was shaped like a blimp. Under the zeppelin was a large wooden deck that looked like the deck of a ship and it had some chairs and a large steering wheel, like the ones you would see on old fashioned ships.

"What a piece of junk." said Moonbeam. "Who would ride in that thing?"

"We would because that is our zeppelin." said Sabu.

"Heke?" said Moonbeam, surprised. "That old thing?"

"Well, it has gotten a bit old and dirty from lack of use but it still flies." said Daruth.

"Yeah, so everyone better get on it before it biodegrades, haha." said, Sabu laughing at his joke.

"Great, we got another Howdy." said Neteru sarcastically. Sabu made a sweat drop out of embarrassment.

They boarded the zeppelin by using a small ramp. Once everyone was aboard, a small door was closed upon the gap in the railing that allowed them on.

"Okay Sabu, you get behind the steering wheel while I untie the zeppelin." said Daruth.

"You got it, cuz." said Sabu. Sabu ran over to the ship-like steering wheel and grabbed onto it. Meanwhile, Daruth was hastily untying the ropes that held the zeppelin to the ground and once the ropes were removed, the zeppelin immediately lifted off into the air. Neteru and the others looked over the sides of the zeppelin as it floated high into the air. It was the first time either one of them had flown before and they were amazed at the sight of all the buildings below as they grew small and smaller with every foot they traveled. Sabu steered the zeppelin like a ship, lifting it higher and higher into the air. Once they rose high enough, they got to see all of Halastia. Every city, every forest, every lake, every mountain, every beach, every single detail of the Ham-Ham Continent could be seen from in the sky.

"Wow, Halastia looks so beautiful from up here." said Terra.

"I feel like I can touch the sky from up here." said Moonbeam.

"Enjoy it while you can." said Daruth.

"Yeah, soon we will be flying high over open ocean and you wont be able to see Halastia." said Sabu. Taking their advice, Neteru and his companions just spent their time watching Halastia below.

"You know, it is no wonder why ham-hams have chosen to build cities here." said Neteru. "It's just well suited for them. In Halastia, there is temperate climates, good weather, no large animals, and it's completely free of human contact. This is ham-ham paradise."

"It certainly is." said Mara.

"Of-course, if you live in Halastia, you wont have any human companions." pointed out Moonbeam. "I miss Jake."

"I understand how you must feel." said Mara. "Don't worry, we'll find Glabrezu and change him and everyone else back to normal. You'll see." Moonbeam just smiled. Neteru looked down upon the island below and thought to himself, "I hope the others are doing okay."

While Neteru and his friends are enjoying the beautiful island from the sky, the rest of the Ham-Hams (Boss, Maxwell, Stan, Hamtaro, Howdy, Dexter, Travis, Cappy, Panda, Oxnard, and Roberto) were at the docks where they had first accessed Halastia so they can catch the next boat back to Japan so they can reach Rokugon. With their back packs on, they wondered through the crowded docks, repeating "Ticky-Ticky" as they did.

"Are we there yet?" complained Roberto.

"We're almost there." said Boss. "We need to find a boat called 'The Ham-Star."

"There it is, I see it." said Cappy while pointing forwards. The Ham-Hams all turned their gaze in the direction of Cappy's finger and their gaze landed on a large white boat with the name "Ham-Star" painted on it in black letters.

"Good eye, Cappy." said Boss.

"What are we waiting for? Lets get on board." said Roberto as he sprinted forwards, repeating "Badda-Badda" as he did.

"Roberto, wait up." said Maxwell as he and the others chased after him.

Leading up to the boat was a long ramp that aloud passengers aboard. Guarding the ramp was a white hamster who was wearing a white captain's hat and suit. Roberto ran up to the ham-ham and the guard held up his paw to stop him.

"Do you have your ticket, sir?" asked the guard.

"Huh." replied Roberto. "I don't have it with me. I think my friends have it."

"And is that them?" asked the guard pointing behind Roberto. Roberto turned around in time to see the other Ham-Hams catch up to Roberto.

"Roberto, don't go running off like that." said Boss.

"He sure can run, though." said Dexter.

"Yeah, like a bare foot rabbit on a hot frying pan. Hehe." said Howdy, laughing at his lame joke. Ignoring Howdy and Dexter, Boss pulled out their tickets from his back pack and gave them to the guard. Once the guard was sure they were real, he put them in his pocket and said, "Welcome aboard. I am Captain Jason and I'll be your captain for the trip." He gestured for them to follow and he led them up the ramps and onto the ship. Once they were on the ship, the Ham-Hams quickly realized that this ship was going to be better than the last one they had ridden because the ship was much more larger and more cleaner than the old cargo ship. The captain led them down to the floor below the ship's deck where the rooms were and they were led to two conjoining rooms that were rented by Daruth.

"Here are your rooms." said the captain. "Rooms 14 and 15 are yours and these are the keys." The captain gave the keys to the rooms to Boss.

"I'll be in the control room." said the captain. "We will be departing in thirty minutes." The captain then left without another word.

Boss pulled out the keys and then placed one of them into the lock to the room. He opened the door and the Ham-Hams were greeted by a plain looking white room with two round windows along the wall. The only furniture in the room was a single bunk bed and a small table next to the wall.

"There doesn't appear to be enough beds for all of us so I guess the majority of us will sleep on the floor." said Boss.

"Oh man." said Roberto.

"Well, lets see what is in the other room." said Maxwell. He grabbed one of the keys in Boss's paw and then used the key to open the door to the next room over. Maxwell looked into the room and he quickly realized that the other room looked exactly alike the other room.

"Well, at least we wont be competing for the best room." said Maxwell.

"So now what do we do?" asked Panda.

"Why don't we go out and see the ship set sail." said Maxwell.

"Might as well." said Oxnard. The Ham-Hams walked up to the deck, repeating "Chick-ah Chick-ah" as they did. As the captain had said, the ship set sailed thirty minutes later and once again, the Ham-Hams got to watch themselves sail away from the docks with Boss and Travis leaning over the railing, trying to hold in their lunch.

And so their journeys began. Neteru and his companions rode in Daruth and Sabu's zeppelin, on their journey to the island where Glabrezu was hiding. They spent much of the time admiring the view from the sky. Whenever that got boring, they swapped stories and even played card games with an extra deck of tarot cards Terra had brought. Meanwhile, the rest of the Ham-Hams were on the ship back to Japan. The ship they had gotten a ride on was much more advanced and faster than the old cargo boat they were on. The ship wasn't very luxurious but they did manage to amuse themselves with games and conversations. Of-course, Boss and Travis spent half the trip trying not to throw up from their sea sickness. Their journeys lasted for the rest of the day and the night. It wasn't until the next morning that their journeys became more serious.

The boat finally arrived at Japan. It was 5:50 in the morning so it was still dark and the Ham-Hams were rather tired from having to get up so early. Everyone had droopy eyes except for Boss who was used to getting up so early. They all stood by the railing with their back packs on, watching the ship pull into the dock.

"Oowah." yawned Howdy. "Why did the ship have to arrive so early?"

"At least it's a warm night." said Maxwell. The Ham-Hams didn't talk much as they watched the ship pull up into the docks. Once the boat had been tied and they were aloud off the boat, they all marched off of the boat and then headed on their way on foot to Rokugon, repeating "Ticky-Ticky" as they did. They trekked out of the docks and into the open forests. Since it was still dark out, the moonlight and the bright stars overhead gave the forest an eerie look to it. The forest was so dark, it made Oxnard shake in fright at the sight of all the spooky shadows and he jumped at every small sound. Many of the Ham-Hams wished they could use the Ham-Ham Train instead of walking all the way to Rokugon but the Ham-Ham Train was still under Mara's merge spell and the Ham-Hams had arrived to Japan at a different dock than they had left from so the train was still miles away. However, their bleak and dark environment was improved a bit when the sun began to rise in the sky. Maxwell continuously admired the beautiful orange color of the sky as the sun rose into the sky to begin a new day. Out of all the Ham-Hams on that hike, Maxwell was the only one who was admiring the view.

Once the sun rose high enough to illuminate the forest, Oxnard was starting to complain loudly.

"I'm hungry, can we please stop for some breakfast." complained Oxnard.

"Yes, this is way too much work on an empty stomach." said Dexter.

"Okay, we will stop for some food." said Boss. With some relief, they all sat down on the ground and began to eat some seeds they were carrying in their back packs. Oxnard eagerly pulled out a seed before he sat down and he began to gnaw on it, repeating "Packa-Packa" as he did and once he got the shelf off, he bit into the seed, saying "Krmp" loudly. Roberto pulled out a seed from his back pack and sighed.

"Sun flower seeds again." said Roberto. "Don't you guys eat anything else besides seeds?"

"They do kind of grow on you, though." said Travis before getting to work on his seeds. As they ate, they heard the sound of wings. Boss looked up at the sky to see if the wings were coming from a predatory bird but he could not see the origin of the sound.

"Where is that flapping sound coming from?" asked Maxwell.

"I can't tell." said Boss. "There must be a pigeon somewhere." They continued eating but they still could hear the sound of the wings beating and growing closer. Concerned, Boss stood up and stared into the forest.

"What's wrong, Boss?" asked Cappy.

"There is something coming." said Boss. Everyone stopped eating for a moment as they listened to the sound.

Suddenly, from out of nowhere, a small object descended from the trees and flew towards Boss like a torpedo. It was so fast that Boss didn't even have time to shout out in surprise. The winged object landed right in front of Boss, its long white wings protruding from behind a black robe that concealed the creature's identity.

"Who are you?" demanded Boss as the other Ham-Hams began to stand up to face the unknown stranger.

"I'm just here for some breakfast." said a female voice from underneath the robes, surprising the Ham-Hams. While laughing loudly, the masked figure took of her robes and revealed that she was a Ham-Ham with wings. The Ham-Ham was entirely white and she had small white bird wings. Around her head was a golden band that held up a large gold ring over her head with a single rod. In her right paw, she held up a long golden rod with a star on the tip and a pentacle hung around her neck.

"Haha, sorry, I couldn't resist but make a grand entrance." said the ham-ham.

"Just who are you?" demanded Boss.

"My name is Harmony." said the ham-ham. "I'm on my way to Rokugon."

"What a coincidence, so are we." said Panda. "Why don't you sit down."

"Okay." said Harmony as she sat down. She then held up her wand and said, "_Seed oh naunas_." and her wand glowed brightly once the spell was cast and from her wand, a pile of seeds appeared in front of her.

"Heke, how did you do that?" asked Boss.

"Just a little magic trick." said Harmony. She then picked up a seed and began eating. Despite how much she had scared them earlier, her kind of humorous nature allowed her to quickly gain the trust of the Ham-Hams.

They didn't talk much for a few minutes until Stan asked, "Yo gorgeous, what's with the wings?"

"Yeah, where did you get them?" asked Hamtaro.

"I've always had them." said Harmony. "You see, I'm a celestial."

"A what?" asked Maxwell.

"A celestial is an angelic spirit from the plane known as Celestia, the home of the celestials." explained Harmony.

"Celestia is in a plan?" said Hamtaro. "Does Celestia fly around or something?"

"No." said Harmony with a laugh. "A plane is an alternate universe and the plane I come from is called Celestia."

"Does all celestials have wings like yours?" asked Howdy.

"Some of them do but not all." said Harmony.

"If you're from another dimension, then how did you get here?" asked Roberto.

"The only way to cross different planes is by opening a portal." explained Harmony. "Everywhere, there are portals that are invisible to the naked eye but with the right spell, you can open the portal and cross over to a different dimension. Right now, I'm here to stop a celestial named Spat from obtaining one of the Caidoz pieces." With the mention of the name "Spat," everyone quickly turned their gaze towards Harmony.

"Wait a minute, you know Spat?" asked Boss.

"Yes, and I must stop him from obtaining the Caidoz pieces." said Harmony. "Why do you ask?"

"We're after Spat, too." said Boss. "He had kidnapped our friends."

"Oh, I heard about your friends." said Harmony. " Spat had apparently left them to a barbaric tribe known as the Bobusha. In the hands of that tribe, they would do terrible things to your friends."

"What?" shouted Boss. "How do you know this?"

"I saw Spat make the exchange." said Harmony. "I wish I could have saved those girls but I couldn't take on a whole army of those barbarians."

"We got to save Bijou." shouted Boss. "Where do we find this tribe?"

"Go in that direction and you will find a river." explained Harmony as pointed behind her with her thumb. "Just follow North up that river and you should see the tribe once you get there."

"Come on, guys, lets go." said Boss.

"But I'm not done eating." protested Oxnard.

"How can you think of eating when Bijou is in gave danger." shouted Boss as he began to rush everyone back to their feet.

"But we can't just side track to a tribe." said Roberto. "We need to get Spat."

"He's right." said Harmony. "If all twelve of the Caidoz pieces were to fall into the wrong paws, it could be disastrous."

"I don't care." said Boss. "We need to save Bijou."

A string of arguments followed, with all the Ham-Hams arguing over what they should do. It was then that Panda made a suggestion that would stop the fighting.

"Why don't we split up." suggested Panda. "One side will go after Spat in Rokugon while the other half go to the tribe to save the girls."

"That is a great idea." said Harmony. "Now all we have to do is have everyone decide where they want to go."

"Well I'm not going to leave Bijou at the hands of those barbarians." said Boss

"And my sister is also in danger and I don't want to lose her." said Stan.

"I don't want to lose Sandy, either." said Maxwell.

"Laura is my friend I can't just leave her." said Hamtaro.

"Me neither." said Travis.

"Oldlie, I got to save my girl, Pashmina." said Howdy.

"Well if you're going, then so am I." said Dexter.

"Count me out." said Roberto. "I want to be human again so I'm gong after Spat."

"I'd rather not come face to face with a savage tribe of ham-hams." said Oxnard nervously.

"I would much rather see Rokugon again." said Panda.

"Me too." said Cappy.

"So it's settled." said Harmony. "Boss, Maxwell, Stan, Hamtaro, Howdy, Dexter, and Travis will go to the tribe and save the girls while Cappy, Panda, Oxnard, and Roberto will accompany me on my journey to Rokugon."

"Sounds good to me." said Hamtaro.

"We better get going." said Boss. "And once we've completed our missions, we will head back to the docks and sail back to Halastia."

"Okay, good luck, Boss." said Panda. Everyone got onto their feet and began to walk their separate ways.

"Bye-Q, you guys." said Hamtaro as he and the others began to make their way to the river."

"Bye-Q." said Cappy waving "good-bye." So now the team has split up again with one group heading towards a savage tribe while the other heads towards Rokugon.


	9. Devil's Island

Journey to the Island of Halastia

Chapter 9: Devil's Island

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful for our heroes. Neteru and his companions spent much of the day riding that zeppelin bored out of their minds. With nothing to look at but open ocean and with little else to do, the flight became long and boring really fast. They played more games with Terra's spare tarot cards but that was quickly getting boring as well. Much of the trip was spent just sitting around and telling stories and they even played charades before going to bed. The rest of the Ham-Hams also had their problems as well but their problems revolved more around over exertion than boredom because the they didn't have the luxury of flying to their destinations. They all had to walk and many of them were beginning to grow tired and weak. The group that followed Harmony took a small hamster size trail to Rokugon. Harmony led the way and despite how much work they had to go through to walk to Rokugon, Harmony was still enjoying herself and she was not tiring at all. The other team that split up to find the girls were just as tired. They managed to find the river Harmony had mentioned and, with the help of Maxwell's compass, they followed North up the river to find the tribe that held the girls hostage. By the time night had fallen, all of the Ham-Hams curled up into a restful night sleep, sleeping on the portable sleeping mats they had brought with them and thus ended day two of their journey...

The sun rose in the distance, announcing the beginning of the third day since the Ham-Hams left Halastia and that sun light rose over all of Japan, including over a large brick building. This building was a single prison cell and contained inside, the eight kidnapped ham-girls remained imprisoned at the mercy of the tribe. The inside of the large cell was made out of cement and bricks, making the cell look more like a dungeon, scaring the girls out of their wits with its morbid appearance. Just two days ago, after Spat discovered that none of them had the Giga Stone, the girls were left to this horrible looking tribe of ham-hams who want to harm them. The tribal chief had mentioned that he was planning on using the girls in a sacrificial ritual. The ham-girls had no idea what this ritual could be but they can tell that it can't be good.

As the sun rose higher in the sky, its light filtered through a single barred window in the cell. Its light cast out onto the floor where the girls slept.

"ZuZuZu." repeated the girls as they slept. One by one, they were all awoken from the cold hard ground, the bright morning sun shining in their faces.

"Oowah, morning everyone." yawned Sandy.

"My back hurts." complained Bijou. "Zis eez not comfortable at all."

"I'll have to agree with you on that one, Bijou." said Kylie. As they awoke, they all huddled together in a circle for comfort. Despite how warm it was outside, the inside of the cell was surprisingly cold, leaving the girls to huddle for warmth. As they huddled, a small compartment door opened and a tray full of sun flower seeds was pushed into the cell through the door. Seeing the food that was brought to them, Pashmina walked over to the tray and carried it to the other girls, repeating "Ticky-Ticky" as she did. She placed the tray in the center of the circle the ham-hams had made and they all began to eat the seeds, saying "Packa-Packa" and "Krmp-Krmp" slowly because they were not in the mood for eating.

"Ookwee." whined Penelope as she began to cry.

"What's wrong, Penelope?" asked Pashmina.

"I'm scured." said Penelope which means "I'm scared" in her untested vocabulary.

"It's all right, Penelope." reassured Pashmina. "We'll get out of here some how."

"Zis eez offal." said Bijou. "We're caged like wild animals, waiting to be slaughtered."

"We'll, like, never get out of here." said Sandy.

"Don't say that, you two." said Laura. "Hamtaro and the others is no doubt on his way over here to save us."

"But they don't know we were left here." pointed out Kana.

"And by the time they find use, we might be already dead." said Kylie. There was a silence in the cell as that horrible realization occurred to everyone.

"Ookwee." cried Penelope.

"Now you girls have scared Penelope." scold Pashmina.

"I'm sorry, Penelope." said Kylie.

"Yeah and even though our chances are bleak, we can still get out of here somehow." said Laura. "Perhaps we can escape from here by ourselves."

"How?" asked Kana. Out of hesitation, Laura created a sweat drop on her head in response.

"I don't know." admitted Laura. There was another silence as their hope of a rescue once again disappeared.

Meanwhile, several miles away, a small hamster size zeppelin was flying high over open ocean and upon the zeppelin, Neteru and his companions slept soundly on board, repeating "ZuZuZu" as they slept. A strong cold breeze blew by, causing their fur to ruffle in the wind. This suddenly breeze awoke Mara, who was a light sleeper. Mara opened her eyes slowly and shivering a bit from the cold breeze.

"Oowah." yawned Mara as she sat up and stretched. She awoken to realized that her companions still slept soundly around her, particular Terra who was curled up into a ball while she slept. Because of her quills, Terra preferred to sleep on her belly and rolled into a ball like that but whenever she did that, her quills stuck out everywhere. Because of this, she had to sleep on her back during the boat ride to Halastia because of how crowded it was. Now that she had more room to spread out her quills, she now slept all curled up, causing herself to look like a round cactus who was breathing softly. The cold breeze that continued to blow caused Terra's quills to sway in the breeze, making those long quills look like they were alive. With a smile, Mara walked up to Terra to see if there was some way she could wake Terra up. Using her magic staff, Mara poked at Terra's body through the forest of quills on her back.

"Wake up, Terra." said Mara quietly. The poking finally awoke Terra from her slumber. She unrolled herself, folding her quills along her back in the process.

"Morning, Mara." yawned Terra. Terra got onto her feet, enjoying the cool breeze that flowed around her. Noticing that the others were asleep, Terra asked, "Should we wake them up?"

"Yes and I know just the way to do it." said Mara. Mara leaned over to Terra's ear, being careful not to poke herself with Terra's quills, and whispered her idea to Terra.

A few minutes later, the two mischievous girls picked up a few pots and pans and began to bang them loudly with metal spoons.

"Wake up, you guys." shouted the two girls. The noise woke up Neteru, Moonbeam, Sabu, and Daruth instantly, scarring them out of their senses. Mara and Terra laughed at their little joke.

"Mara, why did you have to go and do that?" asked Neteru, irritated.

"Sorry but I couldn't resist." said Mara. "Besides, I have to make a lot of noise to wake you up because you're one heavy sleeper." Playfully, Neteru threw his pillow at Mara. Sabu walked over to the steering wheel, repeating "Wasa-Wasa" as he did.

"Could someone please look out over the deck to see where we're heading?" said Sabu.

"I'll do it." said Moonbeam. She ran over to the front of the zeppelin, repeating "Chick-ah Chick-ah" as she did. Moonbeam walked over to the nose of the zeppelin and looked out over the open ocean. To her surprise, an island was in the distance but the island didn't look like Halastia. This island was barren and blood red without a single trace of life on the island. The island had a hamster sized volcano in the center of it and the volcano itself was clearly active. Moonbeam didn't know why but the sight of the island itself sent a shiver down her spine as if some kind of evil radiated from the island itself. Moonbeam's small heart raced as she felt an intense fear flow through her body but why she felt so afraid was unknown to her.

"What do you see, Moonbeam?" asked Sabu.

"There's an island." said Moonbeam, not taking her eyes off the island. "But there is something not right about it."

"What's wrong?" asked Terra.

"I don't know but there is something evil there." said Moonbeam. Curious, Neteru, Terra, and Mara walked over to the front of the zeppelin and when they saw the island, the same horrible feeling past through them, just as it did to Moonbeam.

"You guys feel it too?" asked Moonbeam.

"Yes and there is indeed a strong negative force coming from that island." said Neteru. "No wonder why Glabrezu likes this island so much. It's the perfect breeding ground for such an evil creature."

"You mean were going there?" asked Moonbeam. "Oh man, I don't like this."

"Neither do I but we got to get that magic stone away from Glabrezu." said Neteru.

"Atata." said Moonbeam in response.

After breakfast, Sabu reluctantly drove the zeppelin towards the island and he landed it safely onto the island's beach. However, that beach didn't look like one someone would want to visit because it had blood red sand and lots of rocks. There were so many rocks on that beach that Sabu had to be careful not to land on any as he lowered the zeppelin onto a small patch of bare land. Once they landed, everyone got out to help tie the zeppelin down with ropes so that it wont fly away. Once that was done, Terra, Neteru, Mara, and Moonbeam all gathered their supplies, ready to search for Glabrezu. Sabu and Daruth wanted to stay behind since they would be rather useless against someone as powerful as Glabrezu. As the two of them sat inside the zeppelin, Neteru and the others stood outside the zeppelin, ready to go.

"Good luck." said Sabu.

"Thanks." said Neteru. "We're going to need all the luck we can get."

"Just wait here for us." said Mara.

"Will do." said Sabu. "Bye-Q."

"Bye-Q, you guys." said Moonbeam as she followed Neteru and the others into the barren dry land of the island.

The island was just as barren and desolate as it appeared from the sky. The ground was covered in what appeared to be dead blades of grass as well as the crimson colored soil and rocks. The sight of the red ground frightened Mara and Moonbeam because it reminded them of blood. As they walked closer to the volcano, that ominous feeling began to grow more intense inside of them, as if there was a powerful will from an evil source that was coursing through their bodies. Neteru knew what this feeling was. It was the feeling of a tainted land. He had heard stories of places that were so evil, the very land itself was tainted. No plant could grow on the soil without it being tainted. No water can flew through the land without it being tainted. And it was said that if you tread into such an evil place, the evil presence itself will corrupt your mind and reduce you to an insane entity, a slave to the will of evil. Neteru prayed to himself that the last part of those stories were not true...

Meanwhile, back in Japan, Harmony led her group of adventurers to their destination: Rokugon. The five adventurers (Harmony, Cappy, Panda, Oxnard, and Roberto) had reached the long stone wall that surrounded Rokugon like a fortress protecting its people. Roberto, who had never seen Rokugon before, asked, "What's the wall for?"

"I don't know but I'm sure that they have a good reason for putting it here." said Harmony.

"I can't help but admire the craftsmanship of this wall." said Panda. "It's so beautiful."

"We can look at the wall later." said Roberto. "Right now, lets focus on how we're going to get over this thing."

"I see a gate over there." said Cappy as he pointed towards the right. As everyone's gaze moved towards the direction of Cappy's finger, they quickly realized that he was right. There was an entrance into the city over there. They all ran towards the gate, repeating "Badda-Badda" as they ran.

They came up to the gate to find it wide open. To their surprise, there was a samurai (dressed in green samurai armor) sleeping near the gate. The samurai was presumably the guard who was supposed to be guarding the entrance. Making sure that they didn't wake the samurai, they tip toed into Rokugon. Once they had gone past the guard, they continued on their path into Rokugon. Along the dirt roads they were walking on, there was a fork in the road. The road on the right led to the city while the left road led to the more rural parts of Rokugon.

"So where to next?" asked Harmony.

"How about we see our friend Soshi." suggested Oxnard. "I bet she can help us."

"Soshi?" asked Harmony. "Does she live around here."

"If I remember correctly, she lives down that way." said Panda as he pointed towards the rural parts of town.

"Then lets go down there." said Harmony. The five adventurers walked down the road, repeating "Wasa-Wasa" as they walked. As they entered into the rural parts of Rokugon, they were quickly surrounded by familiar sights and smells from the last time they were here. The town looked like Hobbiton from the "Lord of the Rings" movies, with its houses that were built into hills, lots of tall blades of grass (large by a hamster's perspective), and plenty of ham-hams just living out their simplistic lives. For those few ham-hams who wore cloths, they wore simple cotton shirts, hats, scarves, or vests that weren't terribly stylish but they were charming none the less.

"So who is this Soshi, anyway?" asked Roberto.

"Soshi is a samurai friend of ours." explained Panda. "We met her the last time we came here."

"What's a samurai?" asked Roberto.

"The samurai are a team of dedicated warriors whose job is to protect Rokugon." explained Harmony. "Each samurai family is assigned to a different clan and they serve that clan without question. In addition to their servitude towards their clans, samurai are also required to follow the rules of Bushido which is a samurai's honor code. There are nine tenets in the code of Bushido: Honesty, Courage, Compassion, Courtesy, Honor, Sincerity, Duty, Responsibility, and Family. All these tenets are basically the samurais' highest priorities."

"Sounds tough." said Roberto. "How do you know so much about samurai?"

"I was there when they first started the religion over five-thousand years ago." said Harmony.

"Heke!" chorused the Ham-Hams.

"You mean to tell us that you're over five-thousand years old?" asked Roberto.

"Yes but don't I look young for my age?" said Harmony cheerfully. While everyone else was too stunned to talk, Oxnard was the first to notice the familiar house nearby.

"There's her house." said Oxnard as he pointed over to house. "That's Soshi's home, I know it."

"Are you sure?" asked Cappy skeptically.

"I'm sure all right." said Oxnard. "Come on." Oxnard ran over to the house with everyone else following him, repeating "Badda-Badda" as they ran.

They ran up to the front door of the house and Oxnard knocked on it gently. The door was opened a ham-ham but it wasn't Soshi. It was instead a ham-ham they had never met before. The ham-ham had a white front and her back was orange. Tied to her left ear was a single purple ribbon. In her arms, the ham-ham held, presumably, her infant son who was wrapped in a white blanket. The little hamster had the same orange and white coloration as his mother. The ham-ham looked at Oxnard and the others curiously before she asked, "Can I help you?"

"Oh, sorry." said Oxnard while blushing in embarrassment. "I think we must have the wrong house. Tell me, do you know where Soshi lives?"

"Soshi?" asked the ham-ham. "She doesn't live here anymore."

"She doesn't?" asked Oxnard. "Then where is she?"

"Why, she's the new daimyo for the Sun Flower clan." said the ham-ham.

"Heke?" chorused the Ham-Hams. They were shocked by the news. A daimyo is a leader to a samurai clan and some how, Soshi became the new daimyo to her clan.

"If you want to see her, you can find her in that mansion in the city." said the ham-ham.

"Okay, thank you." said Oxnard before the ham-ham closed the door in his face. Oxnard then turned to his companions and said, "Wow, Soshi's the new daimyo."

"I guess after Tamori died, they gave his job to Soshi." said Panda.

"But where does Soshi live now?" asked Harmony.

"I remember where that is." said Oxnard. "Follow me." Oxnard immediately ran off in the other direction with the others following, repeating "Badda-Badda" as they did.

Oxnard led them clear out of the rural parts of town and into the city. The city was not as advanced looking as Zolphville. It had a more primitive look to it, kind of like a second or third century Asian city with its tall buildings made of plane wood and gravel covered roads. But just like any city, this one too was crawling with activity with ham-hams of all social statuses going about their daily lives. Once they managed to pass through the city, they came across a stone castle that was twice the size of a doll house and located a bit distant from the rest of the buildings but not by much. It looked like a typical European style castle with a hint of Chinese culture.

"Isn't that where Tamori used to live?" asked Cappy.

"Yep and if Soshi is the new daimyo, she must have inherited it." said Oxnard. "Lets go in." The five adventurers ran over to the front door where a large samurai guard stood guard. After they explained to the guard that they are friends of Soshi and that they must see her, the guard granted them permission to come in and he led them through the large rooms and hallways of the castle.

The guard led them to a large bedroom where they saw a ham-ham, dressed in red samurai armor, who was sitting in a chair and writing in a diary.

"Daimyo Soshi, you have visitors." said the guard. The samurai in the chair stood up and when she turned around to face the visitors, it was confirmed that it was Soshi. Soshi looked no different than the last time they had seen her. In addition to her red armor, she also still had her katana (samurai long sword) and wakizashi (samurai short sword) on her belt. If she weren't wearing that armor, it would reveal that she was white with brownish-yellow spots all over her body and one spot that was over her right eye. At first glance, she didn't recognize her visitors.

"Who are you?" asked Soshi.

"Don't you remember us?" asked Oxnard. "My name's Oxnard, Hamtaro's best friend."

"Oh yeah." said Soshi as she began to recognized them. "Now I remember you. And if I'm remembering correctly, the black and white one is Panda while the one with the hat is Cappy. But I don't remember the other two."

"My name is Harmony." said Harmony.

"And I'm Roberto." said Roberto.

"Nice to meet you." said Soshi. "What brings you all here?" They began to tell her the story involving what happened to the town, Glabrezu, the Caidoz pieces, and how the girls were kidnapped. When they were finally done, Soshi was shocked at this news.

"I don't believe it." said Soshi. "So you say that this Spat is after the Caidoz piece?"

"Yes and we need to stop him." said Harmony.

"Indeed, I know the Caidoz piece that you seek." said Soshi.

"Heke, you do?" chorused the Oxnard.

"Yes, just last night, a prowler tried to break into the museum that held the Caidoz piece but a samurai managed to scare him off."

"That must mean that Spat is already here." said Roberto.

"We must stop him." said Harmony.

"I can get Nin-Ham and Topaz to help us." said Soshi.

"Good idea because we may need all the help we can get..." said Oxnard.


	10. Cats, Magic, and Volcanoes, Oh My

Journey to the Island of Halastia

Chapter 10: Cats, Magic, and Volcanoes, Oh My

On the demonic island, Neteru and his companions had finally reached the foot of the volcano. Their heads tilted backwards as they starred up at the top of the huge volcano that dwarfed our heroes. The volcano itself looked even bigger up close, with a height of approximately 1056 feet which is the human too hamster equivalent of two miles.

"Hif Hif." said Neteru as he sniffed the air. "I smell brimstone."

"I don't like this." said Moonbeam nervously.

"I'm not liking this, either." said Terra.

"We can't back down now." said Neteru. "We got to climb to the top of that volcano."

"Why?" asked Moonbeam. "We don't know for certain if Glabrezu is up there. Besides, why would he be up there in the first place?"

"Because this is no ordinary volcano, nor is this an ordinary island." said Neteru. "My instincts tell me that there is something special about this volcano and some how, Glabrezu knows about it."

"I trust Neteru on this one so lets go." said Mara. Neteru couldn't help but smile at her for being so loyal to him. With a groan, Terra and Moonbeam reluctantly climbed up the volcano along side Neteru and Mara. The volcano was almost strait up so they had to use their powers in order to safely climb up it. With every foot off the ground they traveled, they could feel the ominous presence grow stronger. They knew they were getting closer to a terrible evil and they could just feel it from the rock itself.

Meanwhile, back in Rokugon, Soshi had led her friends to a local museum. As Soshi had promised, she managed to contact Nin-Ham and Topaz and told them to come to the museum where Soshi and the Ham-Hams will be waiting. The Ham-Hams all huddled into a group as they followed Soshi through the museum, repeating "Ticky-Ticky" as they followed. The museum represented Rokugon history. Inside were many artifacts from samurai who had existed in Rokugon thousands of years ago. There were displays with wax mannequins of ham-hams, each display a reenactment of historical events and practices. There was also some magical items in this museum as well.

After being led through all the displays in the museum, the Ham-Hams finally reached a display that held a podium and upon the podium was a single gold Caidoz piece that looked exactly like the piece that Daruth had.

"So that's the piece they are looking for." said Cappy.

"It looks exactly the same as the one Daruth had." said Oxnard.

"All of the twelve Caidoz pieces may look the same but they're not." said Harmony.

"Heke? What do you mean?" asked Roberto.

"I heard that each of the Caidoz pieces have some kind of unique characteristic that you can't see with the naked eye." explained Harmony.

"Okay, whatever." said Roberto.

"So how are we going to keep that Caidoz piece away from Spat?" asked Oxnard, changing the subject.

"I don't know." admitted Soshi.

"But perhaps we could be of service." said a voice behind them. The six Ham-Hams turned their heads to see that right behind them stood Topaz (who was the speaker) and Nin-Ham. Topaz was as toll as Maxwell and he even has Maxwell's oval shaped ears. Topaz was all white except for some brown spots which covered his entire body. One large oval shaped spot covered Topaz's eyes, making him look like he has a raccoon mask. He wore a gold chain neckless around his neck with a green gem on it. On his back was a long wooden quarterstaff attached by a black strap that wrapped around the ham-ham at a diagonal angle resting on his right shoulder. Nin-Ham also looked no different than the last time they had seen him. He still possessed his old ninja-to (a type of ninja sword) and he was still wearing his all black ninja outfit.

"Hamha." said Nin-Ham kindly.

"Hamha, Nin-Ham." said Oxnard.

"Who are these two?" asked Roberto.

"My name is Topaz." said Topaz. "I'm a psion who is capable of using his psychic powers to bend the forces of nature to my will."

"And I'm Nin-Ham, which is short for 'ninja hamster." and Nin-Ham.

"Are these more friends you picked up here in Rokugon?" asked Roberto.

"Yep, they sure did." said Nin-Ham. "But I don't think I've met you before. What is your name?"

"I'm Roberto." said Roberto.

"And I'm Harmony." said Harmony cheerfully. "And we need you guys to help us protect a very important artifact from getting stolen."

"So I've heard." said Topaz. "So is this the item you wont us to help protect?"

"Yep." said Soshi. "We suspect that he will come here some time tonight to steal it."

"And if you have any suggestions, we would love to hear it." said Harmony cheerfully.

"Well, unless we capture this guy, he is just going to steal it again." said Topaz. "I recommend that we try and trap him while he is in the process of stealing the Caidoz piece."

"Oh, that sounds like a hamsterrific idea." said Harmony wiggling her hips merrily. "I know just how to do it, too." They huddled together so that Harmony could whisper her plan.

Meanwhile, the group who had separated to save the girls from the tribe (Boss, Maxwell, Stan, Hamtaro, Howdy, Dexter, and Travis) were hiking up a trail, repeating "Ticky-Ticky" as they did. Their thoughts were preoccupied with trying to save their girlfriend, sister, or friend from that terrible tribe. Whatever their motives were, they were determined to save those girls. They hiked up a wilderness trail which was covered in trees that towered over them. If it weren't for the fact that they were less than half of a foot tall, then they would not have been able to squeeze between those thick tree trunks.

"This forest seems to be getting bigger with every step we take." said Howdy. "Lets stop and rest."

"We can't stop now, we got to be getting close." said Boss.

"I want to save the girls just as much as you do, Boss, but we wont be able to do so if we're over exerted." said Maxwell. "We should stop for a break."

"Okay, fine." said Boss, realizing that Maxwell had a point. "I'll give you five minutes but that's all." There were some sighs of relief as they all sat down onto the ground and rested. Boss too also sat down onto the soft ground. He ran his paw along the grass, his thoughts focused on finding Bijou.

"Oh Bijou, where are you?" thought Boss to himself. "No matter what it takes, I will save you." He picked up a blade of grass from the ground, closed his eyes and then laid back with the blade of grass still in his paws. His back rubbed against the grass like a soft blanket. Boss felt surprisingly relaxed from lying down like that and because of this, his mind was capable of drifting even further into his thoughts of Bijou. As his imagination took hold, he imagined himself saving Bijou...

Boss's day dream begins.

He imagined Bijou tied to a large wooden stake which was located on top of a large stone pillar that over looked five hungry cats who weren't too far below. The cats jumped up and down, trying to grab Bijou from the stake, meowing and hissing with hunger.

"Get away from me you beasts." cried Bijou. "Help me. Somebody help me."

"I'll save you." cried an imagined version of Boss who had just came into view. Boss had pictured himself to be wearing what appeared to be a black Zorro outfit with the black cape, black hat, and even the black mask.

"Don't worry, my french seniorretta," said Boss's imagined self, "for it is I, Boss, who shall save you."

"My hero." said Bijou. The cats all turned their attention to Boss and began to advance towards him.

"These cats will end up with only eight lives by the time I'm done with them." said Boss. "On guard." Boss pulled out a long thin sword and with moves that could only happen in Boss's dreams, he cut off chunks of fur from the cat's bodies, spelling out the letter "B" all over them. Realizing his skills were too powerful, the cats began to shake in fright at Boss. With a smile, Boss just simply said, "Boo" and the cats ran off in fright. With the danger gone, Boss made a mighty leap into the air and landed right onto the pillar and then with his sword, he cut Bijou free from the stake.

"Oh Boss, you were magnifique." said Bijou. She then kissed Boss on the cheek and Boss's fantasy ended.

Boss's day dream ends.

Boss laid there on the grass, smiling at his fantasy. He brought the blade of grass to his nose and began to sniff it, repeating "Hif-Hif" as he did. The smell of the grass just made his mind wonder some more but when he sniffed it again, his nose finally recognized another scent on it. It was faint but it was still there. This discovery caused Boss to sit up sharply and he began to sniff the blade of grass some more.

"Hif-Hif. I know that french aroma anywhere." said Boss. "It's Bijou." Boss began to sniff the ground, repeating "Hif-Hif" as he did. There was a faint trail of Bijou's scent leading off into the forest. "Hey you hams, the girls went this way."

"But it hasn't been five minutes yet." whined Stan but Boss wasn't listening. He ran further into the forest, his mind focussed on Bijou. Since they had no other choice, the other Ham-Hams got up and ran after Boss, repeating "Badda-Badda" as they ran.

They ran through the forest until they stopped at a cliff. Upon seeing what was below, they quickly got down onto their bellies and out of sight because down below was the tribe. It was like a colosseum of some kind. Constructed out wood, the colosseum was like a bowl with rows upon rows of seats over looking the stage below. The tribal ham-hams all were crying out and cheering loudly like rowdy football fans. They were wearing grass skirts and body make-up that was painted onto their fur. The body make-up was barbaric in nature and they expressed death and evil with signs of skeletons and symbols that represented torture. But the scary looking tribe was nothing compared to what was down in the center of the colosseum. The girls were each tied to individual wooden stakes at the bottom of the stadium. The eight frightened ham-girls struggled against the rope that bounded them.

"Ookwee, ookwee." whined Penelope.

"Please, let us go." begged Pashmina but her pleads were ignored.

There were cries of excitement as a ham-ham stepped up to a nearby podium. The podium was located on the brim of the bowl-shaped colosseum, enabling the sitter of the podium to overlook the crowd below. The ham-ham was the chief of the tribe. He had light brown fur all over his body and he wore ferret skins as a vest and a loin cloth. He wore a large feathered crown on his head and a mask that looked like a skull face.

"In honor of our god, Nephemma, we sacrifice these innocent souls to you." announced the chief in a prayer like fashion. "Release the beast." With that said, four ham-hams gathered around a large wooden crate that was connected to the stadium. The ham-hams opened the large door and from the crate was a long deep "meow."

"Like this is so not cool." said Sandy. As the girls had feared, an orange cat came out of the box and he looked like he hadn't eaten in days. Laura had never been so frightened of a cat before. When she was human, cats were no problem but now that she was a rodent, she was now vulnerable and susceptible to being inside of a cat belly.

The boys on the cliff watched in horror as the cat drew closer to the girls.

"Cats, why did it have to be cats?" said Hamtaro.

"Our chances of saving the girls are slim." said Maxwell. Boss didn't hear Maxwell because he was more focused on Bijou. Down in the stadium, Bijou wiggled against her restraints. The tribal hamsters cheered madly as the cat approached Bijou and began to lick Bijou's belly, tasting her before eating her. This display terrified Bijou to the point of uncontrolled panic.

"Oh no, please no." cried Bijou. "Somebody help me." Hearing Bijou's cry of fright, Boss could no longer control himself. In search for something that could help him, Boss quickly found a vine nearby. Without thinking, Boss grabbed the vine and then swung down to the stadium like Tarzan. The other Ham-Hams watched in astonishment as Boss swung on the vine down to the cat. Before the cat could sink his teeth into Bijou, Boss landed right on the cat's head. The cat meowed loudly as it tried to shake Boss off but Boss held on tightly by the cat's ear and at the same time, he was repeatedly striking the cat with his shovel.

"That will teach you to mess with Bijou." said Boss as he fought. This sudden display of heroism not only surprised the ham-girls but it also surprised the other tribal hamsters who couldn't believe their eyes.

Meanwhile, the other Ham-Hams were still on the cliff watching the fight. Since the vine was no longer within reach, they couldn't swing down there themselves.

"What are we going to do?" cried Hamtaro. "Boss needs help."

"This cliff is too steep to run down." said Dexter. "How are we going to get down there."

"Wait a minute, I have an idea." said Maxwell. Maxwell picked up a leaf and said, "This cliff is at a 45 degree angle and it is muddy so we can use these leaves to toboggan down the hill."

"But I don't want to tobog-again. Heh heh." said Howdy, laughing at his stupid joke.

"Howdy!" cried the Ham-Hams.

"Oh, all right." said Howdy. As instructed by Maxwell, they got onto their leaves and then slid down the hill like a mud slide.

"Oopaa." they shouted as they leaped off the edge of the cliff and began to slide down it. However, the cliff was steeper than Maxwell had anticipated and as a result, he and the Ham-Hams were sliding down the cliff at an uncontrollable rate.

"Hey Maxwell, how do we stop this thing?" asked Hamtaro.

"I don't know." cried Maxwell.

"We're gonna crash." cried Stan. They all screamed as they rushed toward the ground and then landed hard in a puddle of mud.

"Well that wasn't at all pleasant." said Dexter after spitting out some mud from his mouth.

"Oh man, the girls will never want to see me like this." said Stan.

"Less talking, more moving, we got to save Laura and the others." said Travis. Before the others could wipe all the mud off of themselves, Travis led them towards the stadium.

The entrance was unguarded so they easily ran through the hallways of the stadium (repeating "Badda-Badda") until they ran up into the audience as if they were entering a football game. The Ham-Hams quickly noticed that Boss was still hanging onto the cat like a cowboy on a bull but he was beginning to loose his grip.

"Hang on, Boss." said Hamtaro and before anyone could stop him, he ran to the bottom of the audience and then leaped into the air, shouting "Oopaa" as he sailed through the air. He landed right on the cat's head and began to wrestle the cat as well. The cat hissed angrily at this new aggressor that had shown up. As the cat was distracted by Boss and Hamtaro, the other Ham-Hams had leaped off the stadium and began to run over to the girls. They pulled out knives from their pack packs and began to cut the girls free.

"Don't worry, Pashmina." said Dexter as he ran over to the stake that held Pashmina. "I'm here to save you." Dexter got behind Pashmina and was about to cut her free when suddenly, Howdy said, "Oh no you wont, I'm saving Pashmina."

"No, I am." interjected Dexter.

"No, I am." shouted Howdy.

"Boys!" shouted Pashmina. "Why not have one of you go over and cut Penelope free for me first."

"Oh, I will, I will." chorussed Howdy and Dexter in their usual competitive way. The tribal chief, who had noticed that the other Ham-Hams were freeing the prisoners, ordered someone to come down and stop them but only the cat handlers had weapons with them and everyone else was too afraid to go near the cat.

Once the girls had been freed, Boss and Hamtaro finally lost their grip on the cat and they were flung into the air and landed hard right in front of the other Ham-Hams.

"Ouchichi." said Hamtaro and Boss.

"Hamtaro, Boss, are you guys all right?" asked Bijou.

"Yeah, we're fine." said Boss. Infuriated, the cat began to go on a rampage, attacking the other triable hamsters in the audience. The tribal hamsters all began to panic and run for their lives in an attempt to escape the cat while the cat wranglers tried to contain the cat. In the chaos, the Ham-Hams made their escape through an exit and they ran as fast as they could from the stadium, repeating "Badda-Badda" as they ran.

Once they had managed to find a clearing where they could hide, the relieved girls began to thank their heroes.

"Oh Boss, you saved my life." said Bijou to Boss.

"It was nothing." said Boss.

"Well, here's my way of saying 'thank you." said Bijou and with that, she gave a big kiss on Boss's nose. Boss immediately went as stiff as a board and then he fainted with a big smile on his face. Nearby, Sandy was also thanking her heroes. She held both Stan and Maxwell in her arms and said, "Like, you boys were amazing."

"It was nothing, sis." said Stan.

"Yeah, we had to rescue you." said Maxwell.

"Aw, you guys are the best." said Sandy and with that said, she kissed both of them on the cheek, ignoring the dry mud all over their fur. The kiss caused Maxwell and Stan to blush, causing their faces to turn bright red. Out of embarrassment, Maxwell and Stan began rubbing their heads, repeating "Kushi-Kushi" as they did. The other former humans were also relieved to be alive as well. Laura, Kana, Kylie, and June were virtually all over Travis with joy. Travis had to fight them off just so he could breath.

"Say, where is the other Ham-Hams?" asked Kana.

"What about Roberto?" said Laura. "Where is he?'

"That we can explain along the way." said Hamtaro.

"Yeah but right now, we better go before that tribe finds us." said Travis and with that said, they all made their way back to Halastia, repeating "Chick-ah Chick-ah" as they walked.


	11. The Battles Begin

Journey to the Island of Halastia

Chapter 11: The Battles Begin

Hours had gone by since Neteru and the others began to climb the volcano to face Glabrezu. Each of them used different methods to reach the top. Moonbeam used a Spider Climb spell which enabled her to climb up the volcano like Spider-Man. Mara and Neteru used Leaping spells which enabled them to leap from cliff to cliff. And Terra used a simple levitation power.

"Are we there yet?" whined Moonbeam as she scaled the tall volcano.

"I'm sure you can figure that out for yourself." said Terra as she levitated higher up the volcano. What they didn't realize as they climbed up the volcano was that Glabrezu was up above them watching them climb the volcano. He leaned over the edge of the volcano, hidden amongst the rocks, watching Neteru and the others climbing up the volcano. Glabrezu grinned as a sinister plan developed in his head.

"So they think they could climb up here and stop me." said Glabrezu. "Well I have a few surprises for him." He picked up a clay jar that he had carried with him to the volcano's edge. Glabrezu pulled off the cork that was on top and immediately, a black cloud began to spew from the jar.

"_Yoack ma lozen dookya nayana_." said Glabrezu and immediately after he had said the incantation, the cloud began to shape and form into four devilish creatures. The four demons were tall and gangly with deep lavender skin and skeletal thin bodies. They stood hunched over (since they couldn't stand erect) with overly large hands hanging below. They had long hooked noses and huge bat wings.

"I have summoned you four here to the Material Plane because you must serve me." said Glabrezu. "I want you to go down there and attack the four interlopers who are climbing up here. Bring them to me alive and unspoiled." Obeying Glabrezu's commands, they opened their wings and hurled themselves over the edge of the volcano, descending towards Neteru.

Moonbeam was just about to whine again about how tired she was of climbing the volcano when she looked up and noticed the demons heading towards her.

"Look out." she cried but before anyone could do something, one of the demons swooped down and grabbed Moonbeam off the side of the volcano and then flew off with her in its arms.

"Let go of me, you creep." shouted Moonbeam as she dangled from her waist from where the demon held her. Moonbeam held up her staff and said, "_Calla_..." But before Moonbeam could finish her incantation, the demon immediately covered her mouth with its huge claw. Neteru, Mara, and Terra wanted to help Moonbeam but they were having troubles of their own now that the remaining three demons were attacking them. They clung dangerously to the side of the volcano, fighting off the demons with their magic.

"_Shufflock_." shouted Neteru and a bolt of lightening fired from his paw and it struck one of the demons in the chest but the lightening had no effect on the demon. Terra used her telekinetics to fight off the demons but they seemed immune to her attacks.

"What kind of creatures could be this invincible?" thought Terra to herself. The demons were getting frustrated with the fight so too resorted to magic. From the claws of one of the demons, a beam of energy fired and struck the side of the volcano over Neteru's head, causing huge pieces of debris to fall off.

"Neteru, look out." cried Mara but it was too late. The rocks struck Neteru in the head and he slipped into unconsciousness.

When Neteru finally regained consciousness, the first thing he felt was intense heat. It was like he was inside an oven and he sweated all over because of it.

"Ouchichi, what happened?" asked Neteru to himself as he suddenly felt the intense headache he got from getting hit with the rocks. He opened his eyes and saw that that the heat came from the huge lake of lava that was nearby. He quickly realized that he was on top of a volcano and what he was looking at was the lava from the volcano. He tried to sit up but he soon realized that he was bounded by wrist and ankle clamps that held him down onto a table of some kind.

"Heke, what is this?" asked Neteru. In an attempt to make more sense out of his current position, he turned his head away from the lava and saw Terra, Moonbeam, and Mara locked in a cage and guarded by those four demons that Glabrezu had summoned. When Mara realized that Neteru was awake, she stood up and said to him. "Neteru, are you all right?"

"Other than this bruise on my head, I'm fine." said Neteru.

"But you wont be for long." said Glabrezu as he came out of nowhere and walked up to Neteru. Neteru turned his head towards Glabrezu to face him. "As you can see, these bonds are absolutely unbreakable and you can't escaped with nothing but your bare paws. As for your friends, they can't help you because they have been placed with an anti-magic field that disables their powers while they are in the field and even that psychic hedgehog is affected. " Neteru turned his head around and noticed the hockey puck-shaped object that lay in front of the entrance to the cage that held the girls. The object looked like a bull's eye with black and yellow rings. Neteru instantly recognized the artifact as an Anti-Magic Field generator, one of the artifacts from Ankorbak. Next to the cage, Neteru also noticed the magic stone, the white one they had been searching for in order to revert the town back to normal. Knowing he will have to escape and grab the stone later, he turned his head back to Glabrezu once he started talking so Neteru wouldn't arouse any suspicions that he was up to something.

"Normally I would kill you right now but I'm afraid you're death will have to wait because I need you for the final sacrifice of my spell." said Glabrezu.

"What spell?" asked Neteru.

"Since you are about to be apart of it, I guess I might as well let you know." said Glabrezu. "You see those five pillars over there?" Neteru turned his gaze towards the direction Neteru was pointing and noticed five pillars neatly placed around the mouth of the volcano. Each pillar had an odd symbol on it. The symbol on each of the pillars looked like a single vertical line with a triangle on one side. Neteru recognized the symbol as a rune symbol and the symbol itself means "gateway."

"In case you haven't figured it out, this is part of a ritual to open a portal into Hell itself." explained Glabrezu. "The top of this volcano has a direct portal to Hell but the portal is closed. This spell will open the portal and with the portal open, I could summon an invincible army in the name of my master, Bocka."

"Well, you're just wasting your time because there is no mortal magic that can open a portal to Hell, even by you're powers." said Neteru.

"That is correct." said Glabrezu. "I don't have the power but Bocka does because he is a deity."

"A deity?" asked Neteru. "But wait, if Bocka is a god, how come I've never heard of him?"

"Neanna has done a good job of covering up his existence but Bocka is very much alive and through his power, I can tar a portal into Hell. I've been a loyal priest to Bocka ever since the day he had unleashed me and Ulzogga to this world."

"Ulzogga?" said Mara in horror. Moonbeam was also shocked. Terra was the only one who didn't understand.

"Who's Ulzogga?" asked Terra. Mara breathed in a shaky breath. She didn't like to talk about Ulzogga but she knew she had to.

"Not long ago, I was controlled by an evil demon that took over my body." said Mara. "When he controlled me, he forced me to do horrible things."

"And he even killed my family." said Moonbeam. "All so he could steal the Giga Stone."

"Indeed, Ulzogga was supposed to obtain the Giga Stone for Bocka but Ulzogga betrayed my master and instead sought the stone for himself." said Glabrezu. "Before Bocka and Neanna were banished from this world, Bocka summoned us from Hell and hired me and Ulzogga to help fulfill his goal to eradicate the human race."

"You can't just destroy the human race." said Neteru.

"And why not?" said Glabrezu in a challenging manor. "Those disgusting primates are the undoing of this planet. They crush anyone and anything that's even remotely less powerful then them and with their lack of respect for nature, they will no doubt destroy the world as we know it. This world rightfully belongs to the ham-hams, not the humans who like to lock us up like slaves. Once Bocka is freed, he will grant our wish."

"But the human race isn't that bad." insisted Neteru. "They help us and we help them. Humans and ham-hams are meant for each other."

"Lies!" shouted Glabrezu. "If you are fighting for the human race then you are weak and no more better than the humans themselves. I'm going to tar open a portal and the army I will unleash will grant Bocka destructive power. Once we have the army and the Giga Stone, Bocka will have all he needs to conquer the world. As for you, Neteru, you're going to contribute to this ritual. In order to keep the portal open, I need to sacrifice someone who is pure of heart. I was going to go out and find someone for the sacrifice but since you have gone through the trouble of coming here, I might as well use you." There was a gasp from Mara and Moonbeam as Glabrezu said this but Neteru gave no reaction. Glabrezu said nothing more as he walked over to the volcano, about to start the ritual.

Glabrezu walked over to the edge of the lava pool to cast the incantation. He lifted both of his arms and shouted, "By the power of Lord Bocka, I command the fabric of our universe to rip and open. With Bocka's magic flowing through me, the power of these runes shall tar the portal and soon, the forces of Hell shall be plagued down onto this world. _Hocknaga amada zaulious_." With that said, the five rune symbols on the five pillars began to glow brightly in a reddish glow. Suddenly, a red line began to form on top of one of the pillars and it connected to another pillar then the same line turned and contacted to another pillar. This pattern continued until the line reached the spot it had stared from and then a single circle was drawn around the lines, forming an ancient symbol. Neteru immediately recognized the symbol as an upside down pentacle, a symbol of evil forces.

"_Megamolluk daucanock_." said Glabrezu as he began the incantation.

Meanwhile, Neteru turned his head towards the demons and realized that there was a clay jar next to the cage along with the magic stone. Neteru recognized the jar as a summoning jar and knew that if he could only destroy the jar, the demons will be sent back to the plane they were summoned from but in order to do that, Neteru must first escape. Trying his best to turn his head so he could look around, he managed to notice their staffs lying next to what appeared to be an alter with several satanic tools and objects decorating its surface. Upon the alter, Neteru could see what looked to be a set of keys.

"I wonder if that anti-magic field that Glabrezu had conjured is wide enough to reach me from here?" thought Neteru to himself. Since the anti-magic field has a range limitation, the cylinder sustaining the field could be too far away to affect him. To test out the theory, Neteru crossed his fingers and said a spell, "_Teta moda_." With that, the keys were telekinetically lifted off the alter and then flew over to Neteru's paw. Neteru feared that the demons would have noticed Neteru performing a spell but they were too busy eyeing the others and Glabrezu was too busy chanting.

Neteru quickly unlocked the restraint that held Neteru's paw that held the keys. Once that paw was freed, he then unlocked the other restraints. After he unlocked the remaining restraints, one of the demons noticed Neteru escaping. The demon opened its wings and then flew over to Neteru in a charge. Neteru saw the demon coming and immediately dodged out of the way by rolling off the side of the table and landing onto his feet. He then made a run for the cage with the demon heading close behind him, repeating "Badda-Badda" as he ran. The demon was just about to grab Neteru when Neteru ducked, causing the demon to sail harmlessly past Neteru. Neteru got back onto his feet and continued to run towards the jar but the other three demons were also heading towards him as well. Mara, Terra, and Moonbeam all watched in anticipation as Neteru was chased by the demons. Neteru managed to grab the jar but it was knocked out of Neteru's paws when the demons quickly pinned him to the ground. The jar rolled across the ground towards the cage where the girls were held. Mara watched in horror as three of the demons held Neteru to the ground and the fourth demon picked up a nearby sword, ready to drive the sword through Neteru's back. Realizing how close the jar was, Mara quickly picked it up and then smashed it to the ground, shattering the jar into pieces. With the magic broken, the demons immediately vanished just before the sword went through Neteru.

"Neteru, are you all right?" asked Mara.

"Yeah, I'm fine." said Neteru as he got back onto his feet. He ran over to the door of the cage and using the keys he had obtained to free himself, he freed the girls, receiving a few "thank you" kisses in return. Neteru picked up the magical stone nearby as the girls ran over to get their staffs. Once they managed to obtain their staffs and the stone, they were met with a bright red light that began to form from the center of the conjured pentacle.

"..._shaw mazz lyaw getta bara_..." said Glabrezu as he continued the incantation.

"He's opening a portal into Hell." said Moonbeam.

"What are we going to do?" asked Terra.

"We're going to stop him and I know just how to do it." said Neteru. With that said, he held out his staff and shouted, "_Baraka buana nu nu dego bah doh gogi heta vea_." From his staff, a sky blue beam of energy shot fourth and then struck one of the pillars, destroying it entirely in a huge explosion. Without that pillar, the pentacle could no longer be sustained and it was dispelled instantly but the small portal that was opened still remained.

"You idiots." shouted Glabrezu in anger. "Without that pentacle to sustain and control the portal's power, the portal will implode, taking this whole island with it. Neteru, you will pay for this." With that said, Glabrezu teleported away.

Met with fear, Mara asked, "You don't think he really meant what he said, do you?" As the portal began to grow bigger, the answer to Mara's question became perfectly clear.

"Oh yeah, we better get out of here." said Neteru. The four of them ran towards the edge of the volcano, repeating "Badda-Badda" as they ran, while holding their staffs and the magic stone in their arms. In the mean time, the portal expanded in size and the lava below it began to grow hot and bubbly, causing the ground to shake.

"We'll never make it back to the zeppelin in time." said Terra as she ran.

"Then we're going to have to use our powers to get out of this mess." said Neteru. "Go to the edge of the volcano and we will be able to see the zeppelin and teleport down to it." Following Neteru's advice, they ran up to the volcano's edge and looked frantically for the zeppelin over it but they couldn't see it.

"Where is it?" shouted Mara.

"Over there, to the right." said Moonbeam as she pointed down in the direction of the zeppelin. Their gaze was directed towards the zeppelin that still sat at the edge of the island off in the distance.

"Now that we can see our target, we can easily teleport to it." said Neteru.

"But I don't know how to teleport." said Moonbeam.

"Don't worry, I can carry you along." said Terra.

"Thank you, Terra." said Moonbeam. Terra wrapped her arms around Moonbeam and with Terra's psychic abilities, they both teleported and then reappeared next to the zeppelin, shocking Daruth and Sabu as they appeared.

"Whow, don't surprise use like that." said Daruth.. Before Terra could explain, Neteru and Mara also appeared nearby through the use of teleportation.

"Less talking, more walking." said Neteru. "Sabu, get that zeppelin moving." Following instructions, Sabu ran to the fire generator and started it up immediately. As they all got onto the zeppelin, the portal on top of the volcano began to expand and (as Glabrezu had said) the portal was beginning to implode on itself and the island was beginning to come along with it like dirt being sucked up into a vacuum. Frantically, Sabu got the zeppelin flying into the air but it wasn't moving fast enough.

"We're not going to make it." said Moonbeam.

"Oh yes we will." said Neteru. He then lifted up his staff and shouted, "_Medla vana_." Everyone almost fell off their feet as the spell caused the zeppelin to propel itself forwards like an air plane, accelerating themselves away rom the island.

Just when they were at a safe distance, the portal sucked up the entire island like a vacuum cleaner and then the portal was destroyed in a huge explosion. By the time the explosion had cleared, the crew on the zeppelin cheered with delight, knowing that they had just cheated death and defeated evil. During the celebration, Mara said to Neteru, "You were amazing back there. Thanks for saving us." The two hugged each other, saying "Schmubby-Wubby" affectionately as they did. When they noticed that the others were staring, they quickly separated. Neteru picked up the small stone and said, "Now that we have the stone, we can now revert the humans in the town back to normal."

"Yay, I get to see Jake again." said Moonbeam.

"And all of our other friends." said Mara. There were cheers of celebration coming from the zeppelin as it sailed off towards the setting sun in the distance.

Three hours later, night time came to Rokugon as the city began to became stagnate and quite for the night. The Rokugon museum was also quite and still with no one inside except for a few wax statues and paintings. But that silence was disturbed as someone tried to break into the building. Spat was just over the roof of the museum and using his pitch fork, he cast a spell that enabled him to use the pitch fork to cut through the ceiling. From the middle prong on his pitch fork, a beam of red light shot from it like a laser cutter. With it, Spat cut a neat hole into the ceiling and once it was finished, the piece fell to the ground and crumbled into pieces upon hitting the floor. Spat pulled out a long rope from his back pack and then tied it to a nearby pole. He shimmied down the rope and then sneaked through the dark halls of the museum. Just like the night before, Spat quietly snuck through the museum, slowly repeating "Wasa-Wasa" as he walked, until he reached the display that held the Caidoz piece. He was surprised to see that the piece was gone and in its place, a box was placed in front of the podium. Curious, Spat walked over to the small brown cardboard box and then opened it. As he had expected, the Caidoz piece was right inside the box, lying on top of a lavender colored cloth.

"What's it doing inside this box?" asked Spat to himself. "Oh well, it doesn't matter. Now that I have it, I can bring it to Glabrezu."

Spat quickly ran back to the hole he had made, repeating "Badda-Badda" along the way. He climbed back up the rope until he reached the roof. From there, he pulled out the Caidoz piece from the box and then he walked over to his nearby back pack and then pulled out from the back pack the Caidoz piece he had stolen from Daruth.

"Now that I have two of the pieces, I can put them together." said Spat. Spat placed the pieces together but they did not connect. Confused, he repeatedly struck the two pieces together but they would not connect. As he began to wonder why they weren't connecting, he suddenly realized that the pieces' symbols were missing.

"Of-course." said Spat. "When their symbol is missing, the power of the Caidoz pieces is suppressed and without their power, they cannot come together. If I remember correctly, there is supposed to be some kind of ritual used for revealing the symbol on the Caidoz piece." Spat placed his paw onto the top of the piece and then he began to say a poem he had learned from Glabrezu: "I am the sun, I am the moon. I am the clear blue sea. A gift from the stars, a gift to all. May this piece show it's sign to me." But after the poem was said, the piece did nothing. Confused, Spat spoke the poem again but nothing happened. Spat scratched his head in confusion.

"I don't get it, Glabrezu said that the poem can reveal the piece's symbol." said Spat. "Hamgoof. I guess I need to ask for his help again."

Spat walked over to his back pack and placed the two pieces into it. He was about to put on his back pack when suddenly, a shuriken struck the side of the back pack. Startled, Spat dropped the back pack and then looked up to see Harmony, Topaz, Soshi, and Nin-Ham (who was the one who threw the shuriken) standing before him.

"What? How did you find me?" asked Spat.

"Easy, we knew you were going to come back for that piece so we placed a homing device inside the box." explained Topaz.

"Now you're going to hand over the Caidoz piece nicely or we will have to take it from you." said Soshi.

"And what is a samurai going to do?" asked Spat mockingly. Soshi glared at Spat as she pulled out her katana and wakizashi (one in each paw) and held out the two weapons in prayer. Soshi was using an ancient samurai practice known as daisho. This magical power enabled Soshi to draw on the power of her ancestors and infuse her swords with their power. Spat gawked at the sight of Soshi's swords as they glowed red with power. With a heroic war cry, Soshi charged towards Spat. Spat raised his pitch fork in defense and their weapons connected but the brute force that came from Soshi's swords was so intense that the force nearly knocked the pitch fork out of Spat's paws. What followed after that was a series of swings and blows from Soshi's katana and wakizashi, forcing Spat to bat her attacks off with his pitch fork. Infused with the power of daisho, Soshi moved with such incredible speed and accuracy that Spat had a hard time resisting her power. Realizing that he was at a disadvantage, Spat spread out his wings and then took off into the air.

As he hovered over head, he raised his pitch fork and said, "_Gea modara_." The spell caused a ring-shaped circle of energy to fire from the tip of his pitch fork and the ring struck Soshi's armor, knocking her onto her back. Nin-Ham then steps in and pulls out a chakram (a large ring with sharp edges) and then he threw the chakram at Spat like a Frisbee. Spat saw the chakram coming and immediately, he cut the chakram in two with the power of his pitch fork. Topaz then used his telekinetic to grab Spat and pull him to the ground. Spat tried to resist the pull but it was too strong and he fell to the ground.

"_Heckneck godock_." shouted Spat and from his pitch fork, he fired a fire ball at Topaz. Topaz saw the fire ball coming and he immediately jumped out of the way as it sailed by, breaking his concentration in the process.

"Don't think you can challenge me, too." said Harmony. "_Eshaba gondara_." From her wand, Harmony fired a beam of blue energy that completely wrapped itself around Spat like a rope. Spat struggled against the rope but it wouldn't budge. Soshi then charged at Spat with her glowing swords gleaming in the night. Since Spat could not reach his pitch fork, Spat had to resort to dodging Soshi's swords but it wasn't easy considering how fast she was going. Nin-Ham picked up another chakram from his belt and immediately, he through it at Spat. Spat tried to dodge out of the way but the chakram cut into his arm as it sailed by.

"Ouchichi." cried Spat in pain. Silver colored blood oozed from his injury. Then Topaz took the opportunity to use his telekinetic to continuously pound Spat. The telekinetic punches were like being hit with thousands of invisible fists, that were constantly striking Spat everywhere. Spat fell to the ground, groaning in pain once Topaz stopped the relentless punches. Realizing how vulnerable Spat was, Harmony lifted her wand and shouted, "_Vulk dew bodanana_." A golden beam of light fired from her wand and the force threw Spat into the air, broke the magical restraints that bound him, and tossed him off the edge of the museum. At first, Soshi, Topaz, and Nin-Ham thought they were rid of Spat but then Spat proved them wrong by flying off into the air over their heads.

"You may have won this time, Harmony, but one day your luck will run out." shouted Spat. "Bocka will prevail and when he is freed, he will destroy you." Spat flew off into the distance and disappeared into the night sky.

As Spat flew away, Soshi quickly noticed the back pack Spat had left behind.

"Hey look." said Soshi. She picked up the back pack and looked inside it. Sure enough, there were two Caidoz pieces inside. "It's the Caidoz pieces.

"Great, lets show the pieces to the Ham-Hams." said Nin-Ham. They all turned around and headed towards the exit, repeating "Badda-Badda" as they ran. All the while, Harmony thought to herself, "If Spat and Glabrezu really were to obtain the Caidoz pieces, they could free Bocka. I can't let that happen. The fate of all humanity depends on it."


	12. It s Not Over Yet

Journey to the Island of Halastia

Chapter 12: It's Not Over Yet

The next morning, Harmony, Cappy, Panda, Oxnard, and Roberto were packed up and ready to leave Rokugon. They stood at the exit to the city with Soshi, Topaz, and Nin-Ham there with them.

"Well, I'm sorry to hear that you guys have to leave so soon." said Soshi.

"I know but we'll come back." said Panda.

"Yeah, we'll come back." said Oxnard.

"Well, don't forget to write once you guys get your town back." said Nin-Ham.

"Yeah but first we need to get back to Halastia so we can see if the others are all right and to return Daruth's Caidoz piece." said Oxnard.

"Oh, that reminds me." said Topaz. "Before I forget, we have something for you." Topaz swung the back pack he was wearing onto his arm and then used the other one to grope around inside. From his back pack, he quickly pulled out the Caidoz piece that they had taken from Spat. "The owner of the museum said you can have the Caidoz piece he had."

"Certainly, we'll take them." said Harmony quickly as she took the piece and held it in her paws.

"What use are those going to do for us?" asked Roberto.

"It's important that these pieces do not fall into the wrong paws." said Harmony.

"Why?" asked Roberto. "What is it that you know about those pieces that we don't know?"

"Lots, but I better explain it to you all once we regroup in Halastia." said Harmony. "Speaking of which, we better get going."

"Okay, see you guys later." said Soshi.

"Bye-Q." said Oxnard as he and the others began to walk off.

"Bye-Q." chorused Soshi, Topaz, and Nin-Ham as they waved "good-bye."

"I'm going to miss them." said Cappy as he followed close behind.

"Me too, they are such nice ham-hams." said Harmony. They walked along the road, repeating "Ticky-Ticky" as they walked and along the way, Roberto kept his eyes on Harmony because the feeling that he had met her before just wouldn't go away.

The trip back to Halastia was fairly uneventful. The two groups that had separated had rejoined along the way back to the docks where their ride back to Halastia was located. After another boring boat ride, they reached Halastia where they met Neteru and the others back at Daruth's house. Neteru had made it back first so they been there waiting for the others to return. The Ham-Hams all crowded into Daruth's living room. As a result, it was so crowded that Seamore and Barrette had to stand on the stairs while everyone else crowded in the rest of the room. Everyone eagerly began to share their stories, including Harmony who got to introduce herself to Neteru and Neteru was rather surprised to be seeing a ham-ham with wings. As they all began to tell their stories, there were numerous gasps and cries during some of the more dramatic parts of their adventures. When it was Neteru's turn to talk, they were amazed at their struggle back at the evil island with Glabrezu and the demons. All except Harmony who didn't seem at all surprised about the story, almost has if she was expecting it. It was then that Harmony remembered the Caidoz pieces.

"Oh, by the way, while we were in Rokugon, we managed to obtain the Caidoz pieces." said Harmony as he she pulled the two pieces out and held them out into view. Daruth took the pieces in both paws and then he examined the them in an attempt to try and find some distinguishable features about the two but he found none.

"Fascinating, they look exactly alike." said Daruth. "I can't even tell which one is mine."

"Well, do you want to keep both of them?" asked Terra.

"Naw, I'll let you guys keep them." said Daruth as he handed the pieces to Terra. "I've had that one piece in my possession for years and I still haven't come closer to figuring it out than I was when I first got it. Perhaps you guys can figure it out."

"Why thank you." said Harmony. "You are so thoughtful." Harmony giddily wiggled her hips and laughed softly like a little girl. Roberto observed this strange display and when he realized how familiar that looked, it suddenly struck him as he remembered why Harmony looked so familiar to him.

"Now I remember you." shouted Roberto, pointing a hamster finger at Harmony and surprising the Ham-Hams with his sudden outburst. "You're that hamster, the one I met when I was first changed into a hamster when I was seven."

"Heke?" came a loud chorus amongst the Ham-Hams. Everyone turned their gaze towards Harmony who just smiled widely.

"It's about time you figured it out." said Harmony.

"Wait a minute, what are you talking about?" asked Daruth.

"I was changed into a hamster when I was only seven years old and I remember there was another hamster who changed me back to human and I think it was Harmony." explained Roberto.

"You mean this is that hamster you had met?" asked Neteru surprised.

"He is quite correct." said Harmony. "I witnessed his transformation into a hamster all those years ago and at the time, I decided to help him. Roberto probably didn't recognize me the second time we met because last, my identity was concealed by the poncho I was wearing. I remember that because I had worn that poncho because I was afraid it was going to rain."

"So if you can change Roberto back to a human, then you must know what that strange statue was." said Laura. "The one that changed us into hamsters, too."

"And you mentioned that all of the Caidoz pieces are unique even though visually, they look exactly the same." said Neteru. "I'm beginning to suspect that you know more than you're telling us."

"I admit, I know exactly what that statue was and what the Caidoz pieces are." said Harmony with a smile as if she was proud of this fact. "The statue you speak of is an artifact that belongs to my master, Neanna."

"Neanna?" asked Mara in shock. "You mean the Ham-Ham goddess?"

"The one and the same." said Harmony. "I'm one of the thousands of celestials who swore their servitude to Neanna but after she was banished, I was the only one who stayed behind incase she ever came back."

"So what is that statue that changed us into hamsters?" asked Travis.

"It was a Haman Statue." said Harmony. "One of several statues that was created by the priests of Ankorbak back when it was still in use. Some of the statues were spread out throughout Japan which explains what was doing there in the first place."

"Well, if you could change Roberto back to normal, can you change us back to normal?" asked Kana hopefully.

"Child, you don't need my power." said Harmony. "You never did. The statue has the power to change humans into what are known as 'hamans' which are humans with the power to change from human to hamster and back again at will."

"Wait a minute. Are you trying to tell us that we could have easily changed back at will?" asked June.

"Yes." said Harmony. "When that statue changed you to a haman, you always had the power to change back to human and visa versa. It's easy. You just have to focus your mind and just imagine yourself changing shape."

"But if it was that easy to change them back, then how come I couldn't change them back with my own magic?" asked Neteru.

"The statue was formed with the raw power of Neanna herself and no mortal magic can affect it unless they are drawing power from Neanna or some other deity." explained Harmony. "And, in case you are wondering, the Ankorbak Pylons were also infused with the power of Neanna, enabling the pylons to change the humans back to human form. As for me, I simply used a spell to force Roberto back to human form and I was capable of doing this because my magic is drawn from Neanna herself. At the time, I didn't tell Roberto that he was a haman because I knew he wasn't ready to learn the truth about his powers. I could tell just by looking at him and his negative reactions to his transformation."

"And what forced us to turn into hamsters again?" asked Roberto.

"The magical stone that Glabrezu had stolen was created through divine magic." explained Harmony. "It's not Neanna's magic but it was strong enough none the less and what happened was, when the spell came in contact with the hamans in the area, they subconsciously changed back to hamster form as a way to defend themselves. Since the spell has no affect on hamsters, Laura and the others simply changed back into hamsters as a way to protect themselves from the spell. Now that the spell has already past, you can all change back now."

There was a silence as everyone began to think about the information they had just learned. There was a buzz of excitement around the former humans as their ordeal with the statue began to make sense.

"But how was the statue activated?" asked Neteru.

"It was the will of Neanna that had done it." said Harmony. "Even though she is not in our world anymore, she is still capable of influencing our fate. It was she who had changed the humans into hamans and it was through her will that the Ankorbak Pylons moved by themselves and sent you all back home. For years, she has been guiding our fate for some unknown purpose."

"But where eez Neanna?" asked Bijou.

"She is imprisoned in the Astral Plane." said Harmony.

"Heke? What's the Astral Plane." asked Hamtaro.

"I've heard of the Astral Plane." said Terra. "It is a parallel universe of timeless qualities. Through the use of a magical ritual known as 'Astral Projection,' someone with magic or psionic powers could actually separate from their material bodies, allowing their spirits to travel into the Astral Plane. Once there, their spirit can to travel miles away at the speed of light, enabling the person to travel to far off places at the speed of light."

"Like, that sounds awesome." said Sandy. "And somehow, Neanna is trapped on the Astral Plane."

"Yes, along with Bocka." said Harmony.

"Who's Bocka?" asked Neteru.

"Bocka is the hamster god." said Harmony.

"God?" asked Mara in surprise.

"Yep, he is Neanna's twin brother and both of them were banished to the Astral Plane." explained Harmony. "Spat is a celestial servant of Bocka and Glabrezu was a demon summoned from Hell by Bocka himself. Back in the day when Bocka and Neanna was still in rule, Neanna was a peace loving goddess. She believed in harmony amongst all species but Bocka had other plans. He despised the human race. He considered them as the bane of the world and he wanted to arrange it so that it would be the ham-hams, not the humans, who will be the dominant species of this world. His influence began to grow and Neanna knew that if it continued, he could lead to the destruction of the human race. In order to arrange it so that Bocka couldn't have that kind of power, she placed the power to control the world inside a magical stone which had the power to guide the evolution to this world and you may all remember the stone as being the Giga Stone. Her attempts at stopping Bocka were in vain, however, and she knew that her only hope of saving the human race from Bocka's wrath would be to banish him forever on a plane or alternate universe that he couldn't escape from. In a desperate struggle, she managed to use the only known portal into the Astral Plane to imprison Bocka but the only way to banish him there was to allow herself to be imprisoned in the process. The Astral Plane is a plane where you can't safely enter physically but you can enter it in a non-material spiritual form. Since both deities entered the plane through a portal instead of Astral Projection, they ended up trapped in the timeless world of the Astral Plane, unable to escape without a physical portal which was closed when they were placed into the Astral Plane."

There was a heavy silence as everyone took in this information. The Ham-Hams were absolutely shocked about the idea that Neanna and Bocka were trapped in the Astral Plane after all these years.

"But what does all this have to do with the Caidoz pieces?" asked Daruth.

"The only physical portal into the Astral Plane is located in an ancient temple known as 'The Sidereal Palace." explained Harmony. "It is a hidden temple and who ever gets inside will be able to unlock the portal and free either Bocka or Neanna but the palace itself is locked. The twelve Caidoz pieces, when put together, form some kind of a key to open the Sidereal Palace. Spat and Glabrezu plan on putting together all the pieces of the Caidoz and then use them to free Bocka from the Astral Plane."

"But people have tried to put the pieces together and so far, no one has figured out how." said Daruth.

"Each of the pieces have their own unique symbol." explained Harmony. "When their symbols are hidden, their power is suppressed but when their symbols are revealed, their magic becomes active again, enabling them to come together like a magnet. Problem is, I don't know how to reveal their symbols and I fear that Glabrezu may know." Harmony's last sentence was spoken with such concern and emotion that it hung in the air once she had finished the sentence.

There was a heavy silence in the air after hearing Harmony's story. It was so quiet that you could literally hear everyone thinking about what they had learned. Even Neteru never realized that the Caidoz pieces were that important and if they really were to fall into the wrong hands, it could mean the end of the human race. The silence was finally broken when Daruth noticed the clock on the wall and gasped.

"Hamgoof, we're late." said Daruth. "You're boat ride is in an hour and we're not ready yet."

"Hamgoof, he's right." cried Hamtaro. Everyone quickly began to scatter everywhere like ants. As they did, Terra still held out the Caidoz pieces and said to Daruth, "Are you sure that you want us to have these?" Daruth smiled at her and said, "If Glabrezu and Spat want those pieces then they are safer in your's and Neteru's possess. Now you better get a move on." With that said, Terra also ran off to find her back pack.

Thirty minutes later, the Ham-Hams all got back to the docks where they had entered Halastia, ready to come home by boat. Although it was a strain on Daruth's expenses, he agreed to pay for all their tickets. As they all gathered on the docks, the Ham-Hams all began to say their "good-byes" to Daruth, Seamore, Barrette, and Harmony. Sabu hugged Daruth and said, "Bye-Q, cuz. It was great to see you again and it was nice to be able to fly that old zeppelin again."

"It was nice to see you, too." said Daruth. "Only next time, don't bring so many visitors with you. Oh, and say 'hamha' to Francoise for me."

"Will do." said Sabu.

"Don't forget to write." said Barrette.

"And don't forget us either." said Seamore.

"Bye-Q, everyone." said Hamtaro.

"Bye-Q, Ham-Hams." said Harmony cheerfully. The ship heading back to Japan came to the docks and the Ham-Hams boarded the ship, ready to head back to Halastia. As the ship began to sail off from Halastia, all the Ham-Hams gathered around the railing of the ship and looked on in awe as the ship sailed off further way from the Ham-Ham island.

"I wish we could stay longer." said Oxnard. "Imagine, an entire island inhabited by ham-hams. Couldn't you just imagine what you could find in a place like that."

"I know how you feel, Oxy." said Hamtaro.

"Perhaps one day we could come here on our own." said Mara to Neteru.

"Sure, if we can find the money." said Neteru. Mara laughed. One by one, the Ham-Hams left the railing as time went on until Mara and Neteru were the last ones standing to see Halastia as the last of the island disappeared in the distance.

The rest of the trip was uneventful compared to the rest of their adventure. The ship reached the docks in Japan where Francoise had been waiting patiently for Sabu's return. Once Mara dispelled the Merge Spell she had cast on the Ham-Ham Train, they took the train back to town with no bad weather like they had the first time. They finally reached the Clubhouse early in the morning, at sun rise, repeating "Hamma-Hamma-Hamma-Hamma-Choo-Choo" as they pumped the peddles of the train. Once the train was pulled over to the entrance to the Clubhouse, Sabu and Francoise landed on a tree branch over head and Sabu called down to them, "Well, I'm going home myself. Bye-Q." The Ham-Hams waved "good-bye" as Sabu and Francoise flew away. Once the train was put away in storage, the Ham-Hams all gathered once again outside the Clubhouse entrance with Neteru holding the magic stone.

"Are you sure that you can work that thing?" asked Mara.

"Well, Harmony did give me very useful instructions." said Neteru. "I think I can manage."

"What about us?" asked Laura. "Do you really think we can change back to our normal selves."

"Harmony says so." said Neteru. "It wouldn't hurt to try."

"Well, who's going to try it?" asked Roberto.

"I'll do it." said Laura.

"Okay but you need to move away from us so you wont hurt us when you grow back in size." said Neteru. Following instructions, Laura anxiously walked way from the other Ham-Hams, repeating "Ticky-Ticky" as she walked. Laura closed her eyes and, as Harmony had instructed, she began to picture herself changing back into a human, focusing on that one thought. Almost at the same time, she felt herself grow in size. The Ham-Hams all gasped as Laura changed into her human form like a blade of grass springing out of the ground through Time Laps photography. When she reached her full height, Laura opened her eyes and was surprised to see herself back to her full height without any fur on her body and with hands instead of paws. As she examined herself, she noticed that she was still dressed in her pajamas. She began to panic, worried that someone would see her but remembering that everyone else was stone, she calmed down.

Meanwhile, the Ham-Hams looked up at Laura opened mouth.

"Wow, she did it." said Hamtaro. "Hey Laura, down here." The Ham-Hams tried to call back up to Laura but since Laura was in her human form, she was unable to hear them. Remembering that Ham-Hams, Laura then attempted to change back into a hamster. she focused her thoughts on becoming a hamster again and sure enough, she felt herself shrink down to size and when she opened her eyes again, she was once again a hamster.

"Wow, that was hamsterrific." said Hamtaro joyously.

"Yeah, this is so cool." said Laura.

"Now that we can change into hamsters at will, we can now join the Ham-Hams on their adventures." said Kylie. "Isn't that right, Penelope?"

"Yes." said Penelope.

"Hey, that's the first time Penelope said 'yes." said Pashmina. "Isn't that cute. She'll be talking in no time."

"But why was Laura still in her pajamas when she changed back into a human?" asked Travis.

"Well, you guys had changed into hamsters during the night, while you were all in bed and wearing your pajamas." said Neteru.

"Well, now that we can become human again, I guess I might as well change back and go home." said Roberto.

"Don't change back just yet." said Neteru. "No doubt when everyone is back to normal, they will begin to wonder about all of you if you're not back at your house. Here's the plan. I'm giving you guys forty seconds to scurry back home and once you are all there, I'll free everyone from the spell and then you guys continue on as if nothing had happened. You all got that?" There were a few assurances given out before the Ham-Hams all went their separate ways, repeating "Badda-Badda" as they ran home.

Laura could hear herself repeating "Badda-Badda" as she and Hamtaro ran home. Upon reaching the lawn of the house, they ran past the statue that was Brandy and then they crawled up the drain pipe and into Laura's bedroom through the hole in the wall. While Hamtaro crawled into his caged, Laura immediately changed back into her human form.

"Get ready, Hamtaro." said Laura.

"I'm ready." thought Hamtaro. Meanwhile, Neteru, Mara, and Terra all ran home, waiting for the forty minute time limit to be up. In order to keep track of time, Terra used her psionic powers to keep track of the time like a living clock. Once the forty minutes was up, she said, "The forty minutes is up."

"Okay, here it goes." said Neteru. He held up the stone over his head and then he chanted the incantation. "_Zovolla chour dogga magnia dello dawg ginow_." The stone glowed a bright white light as he spoke the incantation. Once the incantation was complete, there was a huge red light shot up into the sky and from that light, a curtain of energy (just like the one Terra saw almost a week before) flew through the city, changing everyone back from stone to flesh. Laura, her friends, and the Ham-Hams felt the curtain of energy pass through them but they were unaffected. As expected, everyone who had been changed to stone was oblivious to what had happened and Laura and the others greeted their families with open arms, although there would definitely be some confusion when they realize they had been asleep for over a week. As for the stone and the Caidoz pieces, Terra agreed to hold all of them safely in her home, in order to keep them away from Glabrezu. Ever since then, everything has finally gone back to normal. For now...

That night, back in Halastia, Glabrezu waited inside the dark abandoned building he was in a few days ago. He paced back and forth, anxiously awaiting Spat. Finally, he was greeted by the sound of beating wings as Spat flew in through the open window and landed gracefully onto the ground.

"You're late." said Glabrezu.

"I'm sorry but this place is hard to see at night, even from the sky, pfpth." said Spat. "And what are we doing here anyway?"

"We need a change of tactics." said Glabrezu. "We are not beat yet."

"Pfpth, are you crazy?" said Spat. "We've lost. Neteru and the others have two of the Caidoz pieces, we don't know where the remaining ten are located, we don't have the Giga Stone or know who has it, and your portal to Hell has been destroyed. We've lost."

"Don't be so sure of yourself." shouted Glabrezu. "There is bound to be at least one other portal to Hell out there. The loss of one is meaningless."

"And what about the Caidoz pieces?" asked Spat. "I couldn't activate the pieces and not to mention that we have no clue as to where the other pieces could be."

"Fool, you don't have what it takes to activate the pieces." said Glabrezu. "Only someone chosen by the stars can activate them."

"Chosen by the stars?" said Spat. "What does that mean?"

"I'll explain it to you later." said Glabrezu. "As for the remaining Caidoz pieces, I have a plan on how to obtain them. But we can't start the plan now. We must wait. Oh yes. We will wait before we strike..."

**The End**

_Author's Note: Are you're eyes tired yet? Well don't give up. There is one last thrilling story left so don't quit now. Not when you're so close to seeing the ending in The Temple of the stories are currently on under the Hamtaro section._


End file.
